Iran US war highlights: Explosions heard from south Beirut amid local reports of Israeli strike

Iran US war LIVE updates: The Israeli military has "eliminated" the navy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, say Israeli local media reports.

A Turkey-operated oil tanker was attacked in the Black Sea early on Thursday, possibly by an unmanned surface vehicle, said Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu.

"I can say that a foreign-flagged ship operated by a Turkish company, which had loaded crude oil from Russia, reported an explosion in its engine room after midnight to our emergency call centre," the minister said in an TV interview.

"We believe that the engine room was specifically targeted. We think the attack was not carried out by a drone, but by an unmanned surface vehicle at water level," he added.

Iran US war LIVE updates: The Israeli military said on Thursday that one of its soldiers was killed during combat operations in southern Lebanon in the wake of its clashes with Hezbollah.

Iran US war LIVE updates: China's foreign ministry has said that Beijing is ready to play a constructive role in achieving peace in the US-Iran war.

The ministry said that an immediate ceasefire between the involved countries is "key".

China urged efforts to resolve the conflict through dialogue and to avoid escalation, ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin told a regular press briefing.

Iran US war LIVE updates: A Pakistan official told Reuters that Israel took Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf off its hit-list after Islamabad requested Washington not to target them.

"The Israelis had their ... coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the U.S. if they are also eliminated then there is no one else to talk to, hence the U.S. asked the Israelis to back off," the official said.

Iran US war LIVE updates: The Abu Dhabi media office said that two people were killed after debris from an intercepted missile fell on Sweihan Road, adding that three others were injured and several vehicles were damaged.

Iran US war LIVE updates: German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday that his country was prepared to help secure any peace agreement between Iran and the United States.

"We are ready to secure any peace," Pistorius said during a meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles.

"If it comes to a point where we have a ceasefire we will discuss every kind of operation to secure the peace and especially the freedom of navigation in the Hormuz Strait," he added.

Iran US war LIVE updates: Iran's ambassador to Japan, Peiman Seadat, said on Thursday that the US cannot just unilaterally impose a peace plan upon Tehran.

“It cannot be that he comes up with a peace plan and then says, ‘I will impose it,’” Seadat was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

“No unilateral imposition. That is not acceptable,” he added.

“I think it cannot be the case that the aggressor decides or plans to come up with something just unilaterally,” Seadat said. He said Americans will not determine anything, Iran will.

Iran US war LIVE updates: Israeli medics said on Thursday that two people were lightly injured after an Iranian missile attack.

A spokesman for Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said there was damage to several houses in the central city of Kafr Qassem.

The military said Home Front Command rescuers were called to an impact site "in central Israel".

Iran US war LIVE updates: Oil prices surged on Thursday as the US and Iran released conflicting statements on the peace efforts to end the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has also placed the Strait of Hormuz at a troublesome point.

Brent surged above $104 per barrel after losing over 2 per cent the previous day, while the West Texas Intermediate traded near $92 per barrel.

Iran US war LIVE updates: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that they struck over 70 Israeli targets using precision-guided Emad, Qiam, Khorramshahr-4, and Qadr missiles.

In a statement, the IRGC's public relations department said the missiles successfully hit targets in Haifa, Dimona, Al-Khudriyya, and areas north and south of Tel Aviv.

Iran US war LIVE updates: US President Donald Trump reportedly told his associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a prolonged war, hoping to bring the war with Iran to an end in the coming weeks.

Trump has privately informed advisers he thinks that the conflict is in its final stages, urging them to stick to the four-to-six week timeline he has planned, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Iran US war LIVE updates: A G7 foreign ministers' meeting is set to take place in France, with the Middle East crisis taking the top spot on the agenda list.

India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar is also in France for the meeting. While India is not a member of the G7 bloc, it has been invited as a partner country by France, the current chair of the group.

Top diplomats from the US, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan and the UK are also attending the meeting.

Iran US war LIVE updates: The Israeli military said that air defences were responding to "missiles launched from Iran" early Thursday, with sirens sounding across central Israel, parts of Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," a military statement said.

Iran US war LIVE updates: Yemen's Ansarullah "popular resistance movement", Houthi movement, has reportedly said that it is ready to enter the battlefield to support Iran in the ongoing US-Iran war, reported Tasnim News agency.

The agency cited an informed source and said that since the beginning of the aggression on February 28, Ansarullah "is on full alert and ready to enter the battlefield".

Iran US war LIVE updates: The UAE air defences were responding to an Iranian missile and drone attack on Thursday, the defence ministry said.

"UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," the ministry said in a post on X.

Iran US war LIVE updates: A top officer said that the US has struck two-thirds of Iran's production facilities for missiles and drones, adding that a similar proportion of its naval production has also been hit.

Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, estimated that Iran's drone and missile rates were down by 90 per cent, saying that "we've removed the regime's ability to rebuild them."

Iran US war LIVE updates: The Israel Defence Forces on Thursday said that the IDF had completed a wave of extensive strikes in Iran's Isfahan. The IDF said it had targeted infrastructure of the Iranian regime in several areas.

Earlier Israel's Air Force said that under intelligence guidance, it had completed a wave of strikes overnight targeting production sites for weaponry of the Iranian terror regime in the Tehran area. In these strikes, several production sites for air and sea weaponry were attacked, and in parallel, defence systems and a missile launcher position against aircraft were attacked.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has issued a warning to the US-Israel forces on considering a possible ground operation within Iranian territory. (ANI)

Iran US war LIVE updates: US President Donald Trump will travel to China on May 14 and 15 for a rescheduled summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the White House has announced.

Trump, who was earlier scheduled to travel to Beijing by the end of this month, postponed his trip due to the war in Iran.

Announcing Trump's "long-awaited" trip to China, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday the US president and First Lady Melania will also host President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for a reciprocal visit to Washington DC at a later date this year.

Responding to a question about whether the two leaders spoke about the conclusion of the war as a precondition to reschedule this meeting, she answered there was no discussion about the rescheduling of the meeting between the president and Xi.

"President Xi understood that it's very important for the president to be here throughout the region right now. He understood, obviously, the request to postpone and accept it, which is why we have a meeting," Leavitt said. (PTI)

Iran US war LIVE updates: Ophir Falk, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly dismissed the prospects for US-Iran diplomacy and told CNN that Iran "always lies".

Falk argued that Israel's objective is to eliminate the threat posed by Iran.

“Well, Iran always lies. We've we've learned that they always lie. But more importantly, our objective is to remove the existential threat posed by this ayatollah regime," Ophir Falk told CNN.

"The best way of doing that is to remove the regime. Another way of doing that is to decimate their capabilities, decimate their military capabilities until they get to the stone age," he added.

Iran US war LIVE: Multiple explosions were reported from central Iran's Najafabad and the mountains near Khomeini-Shahr early on Thursday, according to Iran International.

Iran US war LIVE updates: Indian Oil Corp. has reportedly bought liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from Iran for the first time in almost eight years amid a global energy crisis due to the ongoing US-Iran war, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Iran US war LIVE updates: US President Donald Trump justified the military action against Iran, saying it was necessary to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. And said it was like a threat of cancer.

"When I went on to do something that for 47 years should have been done by any of the other Presidents, and you heard numerous of them said they wished they did it, but they didn't have the guts to do it. We had no choice, but I thought it would be much worse," he said.

He added, " In the short term, what we had to do was get rid of the cancer. We had to cut out the cancer. The cancer was Iran with a nuclear weapon. We have cut it out. Now we are going to finish it off."

Iran US war LIVE updates: Iran has reportedly started laying mines and moved additional forces to the Kharg Islands after reports surfaced regarding the US's move to beef up its ground presence in the Persian Gulf with a possible motive of taking over the key Island.

Iran has also been laying traps, including anti-personnel and anti-armour mines around the island, where the US forces could possibly stage a landing, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources.

Iran US war LIVE updates: A ship carrying over 7,00,000 barrels of Russian crude oil arrived in the Philippines on Thursday, days after the country declared a national energy emergency over the Middle East war.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Sara Sky, bearing high-quality crude from Russia's ESPO pipeline arrived on Monday, with documents showing the consignee as Petron Corp, operator of the Philippines' sole oil refinery, AFP reported, citing a source.