US-Israel-Iran war highlights: 217 killed, 798 wounded in Israeli strikes since Monday, says Lebanon

At least 217 people have been killed and 798 wounded in Lebanon since the start of a new war between Israel and Hezbollah on Monday, said Lebanon’s health ministry. The previous toll published by the ministry on Thursday evening was 123 dead and 683 wounded.

Israeli airstrikes hit south and east Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said on Friday that it intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile near the central Al-Kharj area.

“A cruise missile was intercepted and destroyed east of Al-Kharj governorate,” the ministry said in a post on X.

US President Donald Trump has ruled out any deal with Iran and said the only option for Tehran is unconditional surrender. 

"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE," he said in a post on Truth Social.

"MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!)," Trump concluded.

The Israeli Air Force has launched a new wave of airstrikes against Iranian regime targets in Tehran and Isfahan, the IDF announced.

It marks the 15th wave of strikes in Iran’s capital since the start of the war, according to the military.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that some countries have started mediation efforts to end the war with the US and Israel but said any talks should address those who started the war.

“Some countries have begun mediation efforts. Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity and sovereignty,” says Pezeshkian in a post on X.

“Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.”

Iran's army said on Friday it had attacked US bases in Kuwait and vowed that it would press on with further strikes.

"Over the past few hours, various types of destructive drones of the Army's ground forces have targeted American military bases in Kuwait in large numbers," the army said, according to Iranian state TV.

"These attacks will continue in the coming hours."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday that China opposes the military strikes against Iran by the US and Israel, holds them as violation of international law, and supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity. She made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked what kind of support China has provided to Iran politically or otherwise and whether it involves military or other forms of support, as the Iranian Foreign Minister stated that Russia and China support Iran politically and otherwise.

International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol sought Friday to tamp down fears of a global oil crisis after prices spiked because of the war in the Middle East, saying there was "plenty of oil in the market."

Addressing reporters in Brussels, Birol said "logistical disruption" from the conflict was "creating challenges for many countries," but insisted: "There is no shortage of oil globally."

Crowds of Iranians gathered in central Tehran and elsewhere for the first Friday prayers since the start of the war with the United States and Israel. Online footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black, some carrying Iranian flags, streaming to an open space outside the Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital.

This week's Friday prayers were also the first since the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the wave of US and Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war.

The United States is not in a position to provide enough missiles to the Gulf states and Ukraine to defend themselves, EU defence and space commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Friday. "It's very clear that after Iranian crisis, if we can call it so, it became more urgent for us in Europe to ramp up production of air defence and anti-ballistic missiles," he said.

"Because Americans really will not be able to provide enough of those missiles, both for the Gulf countries, for American army itself, and also for Ukrainian needs."

Kubilius said Europe was facing a "huge challenge" in developing anti-missile defence.

Amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Iranian warship IRIS Dena sank off Sri Lankan coast in the Indian Ocean after being hit by Mark 48 torpedo from a US submarine. The vessel sank in the early hours, approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle. The death toll has mounted to 87, with 32 survivors. In the latest development, visuals of the survivors being brought ashore have surfaced. The vessel had participated in India’s naval exercise MILAN 2026 in Vishakhapatnam and was returning to its base in Iran when it was targeted.

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The Israeli military said on Friday it had hit a Hezbollah command centre and drone depot in a "broad-scale wave of strikes" overnight in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The strikes came after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for the area, home to hundreds of thousands of people and a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, sending residents fleeing in panic.

"As part of the strikes, an executive council's command centre and a facility storing UAVs (drones) utilised by Hezbollah for conducting attacks against the State of Israel were struck," the Israeli military said in a statement.

Asian markets mostly down Friday as the war in the Middle East showed no sign of ending, though there was some reprieve from the surge in oil prices after the United States looked to ease supply concerns.

After a torrid week on trading floors, investors were limping into the weekend wondering when the US-Israel war on Iran, and Tehran's attacks across the Gulf region, will come to an end.

Equities across the world have been battered by the crisis, which has sent crude prices soaring by about a fifth since February 27 -- the day before the attacks started -- and fanned fears of a fresh spike in inflation that could hit the global economy.

Israeli air strikes left behind massive destruction in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday morning, with the Israeli military saying it had destroyed Hezbollah targets.

The attacks came after the Israeli military issued an unprecedented evacuation warning for the area, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people.

Four men were arrested in Britain on Friday on suspicion of assisting Iran's intelligence service by spying on locations and people linked to London's Jewish community, police said.

The men, one Iranian national and three dual British-Iranians, were arrested by counterterrorism police at three separate addresses in the UK capital, the Metropolitan police said in a statement.

The force's head of counterterrorism policing, Helen Flanagan, said the arrests were "part of a long-running investigation".

"We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us," she added.

Six other men were arrested at one of the locations on suspicion of assisting an offender and have been taken into custody, the Met said.

Several blasts were heard over Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Friday, AFP journalists reported, after the military said it had detected new missiles launched from Iran towards the country.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the military said.

Residents of Dubai received an Emirati interior ministry alert on their phones on Friday urging them to shelter from potential missile threats, AFP correspondents reported, as Iran pressed on with its Gulf retaliation campaign.

"Due to the current situation, potential missile threats, seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building and steer away from windows, doors and open areas," the alert read.

The Israeli strikes have killed 123 people and wounded 683 others in Lebanon so far, the Public Health Emergency Operations Center at the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said on Thursday. The casualties have been rising since the Israeli military launched a new wave of attacks against targets of Lebanon's Hezbollah group on Monday.

An Iranian official said on Friday that at least 20 people have been killed in US and Israeli strikes in the southern city of Shiraz.

AFP could not independently verify the toll.

"Twenty innocent citizens have been martyred and 30 others have been injured in this terrorist attack," said Jalil Hasani, deputy governor of Fars province, the official IRNA news agency reported.

He said the attack took place in a "residential area in the town of Zibashahr in Shiraz."

Indonesia began evacuating dozens of its citizens from Iran on Friday, a foreign ministry official said, as war rages in the Middle East.

Attacks by the United States and Israel on the Islamic Republic and Iran's retaliatory strikes in the region have stranded tens of thousands of foreigners, with flights cancelled and airspace shuttered.

They include 329 Indonesians in Iran, most of them students in the city of Qom.

"The evacuation of Indonesian citizens in Iran will begin gradually today, and this first phase will be carried out via Azerbaijan," Heni Hamidah -- the official charged with the welfare of citizens abroad -- told reporters in Jakarta.

A first batch of 32 Indonesians was expected to arrive in Jakarta on Monday or Tuesday, she said.

Sri Lanka on Friday denounced the toll of the Mideast fighting, as the nation opened its arms to over 200 Iranian sailors who sought help after a deadly torpedo strike on another of Iran's ships.

The crew were brought ashore Thursday and were being accommodated at a military camp near the capital Colombo and their ship, IRIS Bushehr, was under Sri Lankan control.

The vessel reported engine trouble and sought port entry after another Iranian vessel, IRIS Dena, was hit by a US torpedo off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday.

Washington later announced it carried out the attack, which killed at least 84 Iranian sailors aboard and left 64 more missing.

Israeli Air Force said in a statement: 

Twenty-six waves of strikes in Dahiyeh since the start of the campaign: The Air Force struck tonight in Beirut headquarters and ten high-rise buildings containing military infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah

The IDF completed during the night a broad wave of strikes in Beirut, against terrorist infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.

As part of the strikes, the headquarters of the Executive Council was struck, and a warehouse where unmanned aerial vehicles were stored, which Hezbollah uses in attacks toward the State of Israel.

The headquarters that were struck were intended to serve the terrorist organization Hezbollah to advance various terrorist plans against IDF forces and civilians of the State of Israel.

Prior to the strike, steps were taken to reduce the chance of harm to civilians, including advance warnings, use of precision munitions, and aerial observations.

The IDF will continue to act forcefully against the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which decided to join the campaign and act under the auspices of the Iranian terrorist regime, and will not allow harm to civilians of the State of Israel.

"Three drones were intercepted and destroyed east of the Riyadh region," the Saudi defence ministry posted on X, quoting a spokesperson.

The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based ​on the Iran-Iraq border has been training to mount an attack in hopes of weakening the country's military.

Hezbollah on Friday claimed responsibility for a wave of strikes targeting Israeli forces, in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Lebanese state media said Friday that Israel had launched air strikes on several towns in southern Lebanon.

US President Donald Trump said he wants Iran’s current leadership structure completely removed and suggested he has potential candidates in mind to lead the country.

Speaking to NBC News in a phone call, Trump said Washington aims to “clean out everything” and avoid a situation where a new leadership rebuilds the same system over time.

“We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” Trump said, declining to identify the individuals.
 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday (Mar 5) announced a 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil as energy supplies are hit amid the war in West Asia. The temporary measure will enable oil to keep flowing into the global market as the war between the US-Israel and Iran spreads across the region, disrupting global oil supply.

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any ground invasion by US or Israeli forces would lead to disaster for their enemies.

“We are waiting for them,” he said, adding that Iran is confident it can confront such an attack.

An internal Pentagon investigation has revealed that US forces may have carried out the February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school in Iran's Minab, which killed 150 children. The early findings directly contradict White House claims blaming Tehran. 

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Iranian authorities warned citizens against using VPN services as internet connectivity across the country dropped to about one per cent of normal levels.

Monitoring group Netblocks said the communications blackout has left Iran largely cut off from the outside world.

An Iranian missile strike caused a fire at Bahrain’s main state owned oil refinery as attacks across the Gulf continued.

Diplomatic sources also said some Western embassy staff in Riyadh were instructed to shelter in place following recent attacks in the region.

Israel’s military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the US-Israel campaign against Iran is entering a new phase.

He said operations will focus on further dismantling Iran’s military capabilities and warned that “additional surprises” are planned.

NATO said it has strengthened its ballistic missile defence posture after Iran launched a missile toward alliance member Turkey.

The missile was intercepted, and NATO said the alliance will maintain a heightened defence level until threats from Iran subside.

Israel took the decision to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in November and was planning to carry out the operation around six months later, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday (March 5). Khamenei was killed in the first hours of the US-Israeli air campaign that began on February 28, in the first assassination of a country's top ruler by an airstrike.

Israel said it launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early Friday, targeting "regime infrastructure" in the Iranian capital.

Israeli forces launched a large-scale "wave of strikes against Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran", a military statement said.

Iranian state TV reported explosions in several parts of the city.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the country is facing an economic “state of near emergency” as rising regional tensions threaten to fuel inflation.

Speaking at a military academy event, Sisi warned that traders accused of price gouging could face military court trials.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli strikes has climbed to 123 since the country was drawn into the regional war earlier this week.

Officials said 638 people have also been wounded since Monday, with the latest casualties reported following strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base early Friday.

The Saudi defence ministry said the missiles were neutralised before reaching their target as Iran continues attacks across Gulf states.

Three Australian military personnel were onboard an American submarine that sank an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday.

Speaking to Sky News, Albanese said: "I can confirm that there were three Australian personnel on board that vessel".

"I can confirm also, though, that no Australian personnel have participated in any offensive action against Iran," he added.

Bahrain said early Friday that Iran had targeted two hotels and a residential building in the capital Manama.

"Iranian aggression targets two hotels and a residential building in Manama, causing material damage but no loss of life," the interior ministry posted on X.