Issued on: 03/03/2026 - 05:22Modified: 04/03/2026 - 11:56
Iran is ready for a long war against the United States and Israel and has so far not used its most advanced weapons, its defence ministry said Tuesday. The Israeli military also said it struck Iranian industrial sites used to produce ballistic missiles, while Iran retaliated by hitting industrial and diplomatic targets across the Middle East. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Tanker heads to UAE port via Strait of Hormuz to load oil, sources
An oil tanker the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, heading to a United Arab Emirates port to load crude in a rare voyage since the Iran war disrupted shipping in the Middle East, according to industry sources and
shiptracking data.
Suezmax tanker Pola switched off its AIS tracker late on March 2, when it approached the Strait, and re-appeared on March 3 off Abu Dhabi, LSEG data showed.
US, Kurds discuss potential Iran military operation, sources say
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, according to three sources with
\knowledge of the matter.
The Iranian Kurdish coalition of groups based on the Iran-Iraq border in the semiautonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been training to mount such an attack in hopes of weakening the country's military, as the United States and Israel pound Iranian targets with bombs and missiles.
US says non-emergency staff granted permission to leave Saudi Arabia, Oman
The US State Department has given its non-emergency personnel and their families in Saudi Arabia and Oman permission to leave, the US embassies in both Gulf states said Tuesday, as Iran launches retaliatory strikes in response to US-Israeli air raids.
The department "authorized non-emergency US government employees and US government employee family members to leave" Saudi Arabia and Oman "due to safety risks," the US embassies in Riyadh and Muscat said in advisories on their websites.
Lebanon reports broad Israeli strikes hitting hotel, residential building
Israeli strikes hit a Beirut hotel and a residential building in Lebanon's east, Lebanese state media said Wednesday, as Israel announced "broad-scale strikes" against Hezbollah after repeated missile and drone launches.
Lebanese state media said the Israeli attacks targeted a building in Baalbek, in Lebanon's east far from the border, as well as a hotel near Beirut in an area so far spared the violence.
In Aramoun and Saadiyat south of Beirut -- two towns outside the traditional strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah -- the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded eight others. It cautioned that this was a "preliminary toll".
Australia PM Albanese says there is 'no justification' for Iran's 'indiscriminate' attack
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday there was "no justification"
for Iran's attacks on civilian areas in the Middle East in retaliation to US and Israeli strikes.
"We have called for Iran to cease these indiscriminate attacks immediately," Albanese told Parliament.
At least four killed in Israeli strike on building in Lebanon's Baalbek
An Israeli strike on a four-storey residential building has killed at least four people and wounded
six others in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek with rescue teams working to pull families from beneath the rubble, state news agency NNA said on Wednesday.
Israel strikes building in Baalbek, east Lebanon, reports Lebanese state media
An Israeli airstrike hit a four-storey building in the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that "enemy aircraft targeted a four-storey building at dawn" inside a residential complex in Baalbek, an area where Hezbollah holds sway.
The NNA reported "a number of martyrs and work is underway to rescue families from under the rubble".
Israeli strikes on towns south of Beirut kill 6, says Lebanese ministry
Israel steps up airstrikes in Tehran, as Iran widens its response across the region
Israeli military issues evacuation warning for 16 villages in Lebanon signaling imminent strikes
The Israeli military called on people to leave 16 towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, in an "urgent warning" before using force against Hezbollah militants.
"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately" and head to "open areas", said a statement shared by the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, listing 16 locations near the border.
Hezbollah says targeted Israel's Haifa naval base after strikes on Lebanon
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it targeted northern Israel's Haifa naval base on Tuesday in response to the Israeli military's ongoing strikes against the Iran-back movement's strongholds in Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel carried out successive air raids for a second day on the south of the country as well some suburbs in its capital after issuing evacuation warnings to residents.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it targeted the Haifa naval base with "a barrage of high-quality missiles" at 8:00 pm local time (1800 GMT).
US military: today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman.
Centcom: US has destroyed 17 Iranian ships
US military central command: US has struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran
The US military commander in the Middle East said Tuesday that American forces had struck nearly 2,000 targets so far in Iran as part of the largest firepower buildup in the region in a generation.
"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," Admiral Brad Cooper of US Central Command said in a video message.
"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 added.
Saudi Arabia to take all necessary measures to defend its security, cabinet says
Saudi Arabia will take all necessary measures to defend its security and protect its territory, citizens and residents, the state news agency reported early on Wednesday, citing a cabinet statement.
An Iranian attack targeted the US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday amid ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes on Gulf states that host US bases, following US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday.
CIA station in Saudi Arabia struck by suspected Iranian drone, source says
The Central Intelligence Agency's station at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit on Monday by a suspected Iranian drone, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
There is no indication the station was the target, the source said.
The CIA declined to comment.
The attack came amid ongoing strikes in the Middle East following Saturday's U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Trump says US Navy could escort tankers, Iran aimed to strike first
Israel says it has launched 'broad wave' of strikes on Iran
Israel's military said Wednesday that it launched a "broad wave of strikes" on targets in Iran, after the Islamic republic fired rounds of missile barrages at Israeli territory.
The military said the targets of its latest strikes include Iranian "launch sites, air defence systems, and additional infrastructure."
Air raid sirens rang out across multiple parts of Israel overnight as the military worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire.
There were no immediate reports of significant impact, although police said munitions fell in the Tel Aviv area, where one woman suffered mild shrapnel injuries.
Pentagon releases names of service members killed in Iran war
The Pentagon has released the names of four of the six service members were killed in the Iran war, saying they died in a drone strike in Kuwait.
All four Army Reserve soldiers were killed Sunday when a drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. That was just a day after the US and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran, which launched retaliatory strikes.
All were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, lowa.
Killed were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; and Spc. Declan J.
Yesterday's key developments:
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)
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