Explosions were heard across Iran’s capital before dawn Wednesday as the country’s escalating conflict with the United States and Israel entered a fifth day, marking one of the most intense periods of fighting in the region in decades. The latest blasts in Tehran followed days of sustained US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites and sweeping retaliatory attacks by Tehran on Israeli territory and US assets across the Gulf.Iranian state television reported explosions around Tehran as daylight broke, while Israel said its air defenses were activated due to incoming missile fire from Iran.Israel launched what it described as “a broad wave” of fresh strikes targeting Iranian defense systems and missile launch sites. A day earlier, Israel carried out airstrikes against Iranian missile launchers and a nuclear research site.Follow US-Israel-Iran War Live UpdatesIsraeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military struck a building in the Iranian city of Qom where clerics were expected to meet to discuss selecting a new supreme leader. He said the army was still assessing whether anyone was hit.The Israeli military said it also conducted airstrikes on Iranian sites that produce and store ballistic missiles and destroyed what it called Iran’s secret, underground nuclear headquarters. Without providing evidence, it said the site was used for research “to develop a key component for nuclear weapons.”Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran retaliates across Israel and the Gulf
Iran has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, though most were intercepted. Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.Tehran confirmed it had targeted multiple locations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — countries that host US military airbases — according to the Fars news agency.“This operation will continue relentlessly until the enemy is decisively defeated,” the IRGC said, adding that all US assets in the region are considered legitimate targets by Iran’s armed forces.An attack by two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry. The embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound and later closed to the public.An Iranian drone struck a parking lot outside the US consulate in Dubai, sparking a small fire, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. Dubai’s government media office said authorities put down a limited fire in the vicinity of the consulate due to the drone strike.The Central Intelligence Agency’s station at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit Monday by a suspected Iranian drone, according to a source familiar with the matter.‘We’ve just begun’: US says it has bombed over 2,000 targets in Iran – top developments
US evacuations and regional fallout
The US State Department authorized non-emergency US government employees and family members to leave Saudi Arabia and Oman “due to safety risks,” according to advisories from the US embassies in Riyadh and Muscat.The department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and families in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. US citizens were urged to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though many were stranded because of airspace closures. The State Department said it is preparing military and charter flights for Americans wanting to leave the region.Oman, which had played a mediation role in talks between the United States and Iran, called for a ceasefire. Riyadh condemned Iranian salvos, including the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh.India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced the establishment of a Special Control Room and issued helpline numbers for Indian nationals in view of the evolving situation in West Asia and the Gulf region.
US military campaign intensifies
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said American forces have struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran as part of what he described as the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation.“In simple terms, we’re focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us,” Cooper said in a video message posted on X.“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” he added. “Thus far, we’ve destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side.”“For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman,” Cooper said. “And we will not stop.”He added: “We’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.”“The first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale” of the first day of shock-and-awe strikes on Iraq in 2003, “and we continue with 24/7 strikes into Iran,” he said.The US military said it has destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including a submarine.The US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran, according to the Red Crescent Society. Nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began, including some whom President Donald Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders of the country.In Lebanon, where Israel launched retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah militants, at least 50 people were killed, including seven children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Lebanon’s state-run media also reported that at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck.The US military confirmed six American service members have been killed. Four were identified as Capt. Cody A. Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, who were assigned to the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command. The Pentagon said a drone strike Sunday at a command center in Kuwait killed four US Army Reserve soldiers and two other service members.Kuwait said an 11-year-old girl was killed by falling shrapnel as its forces intercepted “hostile aerial targets.” Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain.
Uncertainty over Iran’s leadership
US President Donald Trump said Iran’s air force and navy had been “knocked out” and that new strikes targeted Iranian leadership. He suggested the war could last several weeks or longer.As far as possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said.“I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen,” Trump said. “We don’t want that to happen.”While the initial US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal. Trump later said that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the campaign is finished.Israeli media reported that Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old second eldest son of Ali Khamenei, had been chosen as successor and that the Assembly of Experts was expected to formally announce him. The New York Times reported he had emerged as the leading candidate and that the Assembly allegedly elected him under pressure from the IRGC. There has been no independent confirmation from Iranian state media.
