Iran war news highlights: Drone causes fire at Kuwait oil complex; Trump claims many Iranian military leaders killed

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Iran war news LIVE: Here are the key points:

• The Iranian military said Iraq is exempt from shipping restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz that have strangled global energy flows for weeks.
• Kuwait’s state media reported that an Iranian drone attack has caused “significant damage” to the government office complex.
• A US-Israeli attack on the Black Mountain has killed at least three people, according to the Iranian state media, which quoted the governor of Kohgiluyeh as saying.
• Search continues in a remote area of Iran for a missing US pilot whose F-15E jet was shot down.
• US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that "many" of Iran's military leaders were killed in a huge strike on the Islamic Republic's capital.
• At least 170 have been injured in the US-Israeli attack targeting petrochemical facilities in southwestern Iran, according to the Iranian state media.
• Iran's central military command on Saturday rejected US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the country's vital infrastructure if it does not accept a peace deal within 48 hours.

Iran war news LIVE: Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Saturday it had expelled Iran’s top diplomat as tensions increase between Iran’s theocratic regime and Argentina’s libertarian government, which is closely aligned with the Trump administration.

In a message on X, Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister Pablo Quirno said Iran’s Charge D’Affaires, Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, had left the country “in compliance” with a resolution issued Thursday that gave the Iranian diplomat 48 hours to leave the South American country.

Iran war news LIVE: The Iranian military said Iraq is exempt from shipping restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz that have strangled global energy flows for weeks.

“Brotherly Iraq is exempt from any restrictions we have imposed on the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s military spokesman said in an Arabic-language video statement published by state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

The declaration has the potential to unleash as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes.

Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that Israeli forces have launched air attacks on the town of Kfar Hatta in the southern Sidon district.

The attack comes hours after the Israeli military issued a threat of an impending attack and issued forced orders for residents there to flee their homes.

Kuwait’s state media is reporting that an Iranian drone attack has caused “significant damage” to the government office complex.

No injuries were reported, KUNA said, adding that employees will work remotely on Sunday.

The Israeli army has said that it has detected fresh missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.

In a statement, it said defensive systems are working to intercept the threat.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said its headquarters caught fire after a strike by unmanned drones.

The damaged building, which also houses the emirate’s oil ministry, was evacuated, and firefighting crews are on the scene, KPC said in a statement.

The “oil sector leadership is closely monitoring the assessment of damages resulting from the incident, in coordination with the relevant authorities, while taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of personnel and secure the site,” according to the statement.

Kuwait’s state media is reporting a fire that has broken out at the Shuwaikh Oil Sector Complex after a drone attack.

There were no injuries, KUNA reported, adding that firefighting and emergency teams are responding to the incident.

A US-Israeli attack on the Black Mountain has killed at least three people, according to the Iranian state media, which quoted the governor of Kohgiluyeh as saying.

Two others were wounded, the governor told the Tasnim news agency, warning that the casualty toll could rise.

Pope Leo XIV, carrying a tall, lit candle through a darkened, silent St. Peter’s Basilica, ushered in Christianity’s most joyous celebration with his first Easter vigil service as pontiff Saturday night, urging that Easter would bring harmony and peace to a world torn by wars.

Easter, for Christians, commemorates Christ’s triumph over death through his resurrection after his crucifixion. Lighting the candle before he entered the basilica, the pope intoned: “The light of Christ who rises in glory."

Candle bearers stopped to light the congregants' candles as they walked down the central aisle, spreading flickers of light through the dark basilica, before the lights went up as the pope arrived at the baroque main altar, followed by cardinals dressed in white.

In his homily, Leo called sin “a heavy barrier that closes us off and separates us from God, seeking to kill his words of hope within us,’’ and likened it to the stone that had covered Jesus’ tomb — but which was found overturned, revealing Jesus’ resurrection.

Leo said that there are stones representing sins to be overturned today, some “so heavy and so closely guarded that they seem to be immovable.”

“Some weigh heavily on the human heart, such as mistrust, fear, selfishness and resentment; others stemming from these inner struggles, sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations.

“Let us not allow ourselves to be paralysed by them!” the pope said, calling on the faithful to make a commitment “so that the Easter gifts of harmony and peace may grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world.’’

The Kuwaiti military has said that its air defences are intercepting missile and drone attacks.

“Any explosions heard are a result of air defence systems intercepting hostile attacks,” it said in a post on X.

Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said it has dealt with eight missile and 19 drone attacks in the past 24 hours.

Search continues for a second day in a remote area of Iran for a missing US pilot whose F-15E jet was shot down.

Iran has urged residents to turn in the “enemy pilot” for a reward, as Washington faces heightened stakes as the conflict entered its sixth week.

The prospect of a US service member alive and on the run in Iran came amid slim chances for peace talks and polls in the US showing low public support for the war.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that "many" of Iran's military leaders were killed in a huge strike on the Islamic Republic's capital.

"Many of Iran's Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The post included a video showing explosions lighting up a city's skyline at nightbut did not specify when the military action occurred.

The war erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering a retaliation that has spread the conflict throughout the Middle East and convulsed the global economy.

An attack on the town of Maarakah killed five people, including a woman, Lebanon’s NNA cited the country’s Health Ministry as saying.

Israeli air raids also targeted the towns of Batoulay and Chehabiyeh, causing multiple injuries, according to NNA.

At least 170 have been injured in the US-Israeli attack targeting petrochemical facilities in southwestern Iran, according to the Iranian state media.

The IRNA news agency cited a local official in Khuzestan province as saying the strike hit several companies in the Mahshahr Special Economic Zone for petrochemicals. The official said the wounded received medical treatment, with most discharged after outpatient care.

Earlier, Fars news agency said at least five people were killed in the US-Israeli strikes that targeted Iran’s Mahshahr and Bandar Imam special petrochemical zones.

Iran's central military command on Saturday rejected US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the country's vital infrastructure if it does not accept a peace deal within 48 hours.

General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, in a statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Trump's threat was "a helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action".

And, echoing the religious language of Trump's social media post, he warned that "the simple meaning of this message is that the gates of hell will open for you".

Iranian media on Saturday quoted two daughters of slain former Iranian covert operations chief Qassem Soleimani denying that two Iranian women arrested in the United States were their relatives.

Earlier, the US State Department had announced that a niece and a grand-niece of Soleimani had been arrested and stripped of their US residency. The statement identified the niece as Hamideh Soleimani Afshar. Her daughter was not named.

But, according to the Iranian news agency Fars, Soleimani's daughter Zeinab said: "The US State Department's claim is a lie: the people arrested in the United States have no connection to the family."

Iranian state TV cited another daughter, Narjes, a member of Tehran's Islamic City Council, as saying: "To this day, no member of the family nor any relative of Martyr Soleimani has resided in the United States."

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has written a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, condemning the US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites, including the latest targeting of the Bushehr nuclear plant.

Such attacks “expose the entire region to a serious risk of radioactive contamination with serious human and environmental consequences,” Araghchi wrote in the letter, the text of which he shared on Telegram.

“The repeated attacks by the aggressors in the vicinity of the active Bushehr nuclear power plant are of great concern,” he said. “The proximity of these attacks to an active nuclear facility creates an intolerable situation that poses a serious risk of radiological release.”

As the clock ticks closer to the US President’s Monday deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the White House says Donald Trump is firmly at work.

“There has never been a President who has worked harder for the American people than President Trump,” Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, posted on X. “On this Easter weekend, he has been working nonstop in the White House and Oval Office. God Bless him.”

Trump often travels to his Palm Beach, Florida, club on the weekends, but he’s staying in Washington for the Easter weekend. Since he delivered his prime-time address on Iran on Wednesday night, the president has held a series of closed-press meetings at the White House.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed carrying out an attack targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, as well as “vital” military sites in southern Israel.

In a statement on the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah media, the Yemeni group said the attack used a cluster missile and numerous drones.

Israel’s military had earlier said it had detected a missile launched from Yemen towards its territory and that its defence systems had been activated. Israeli media later reported the missile fell in an open area, without causing casualties or damage.

Several hundred people attended the demonstration at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, calling for an end to the war, in between sirens warning of incoming missiles from Iran and from Yemen.

Israeli wartime restrictions currently limit gatherings in public areas to 150 people. But in response to an appeal, Supreme Court justices on Saturday evening issued an interim ruling allowing at least 600 people to gather at Habima Square and 150 at each of several other locations across the country.

At around 8 p.m., police declared the demonstration unlawful, claiming there were “hundreds more than the court ordered” at the protest. Police officers forcibly removed protesters from the square and arrested at least 17.

Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Saturday it had expelled Iran’s top diplomat as tensions increase between Iran’s theocratic regime and Argentina’s libertarian government, which is closely aligned with the Trump administration.

In a message on X, Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister Pablo Quirno said Iran’s Charge D’Affaires, Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, had left the country “in compliance” with a resolution issued Thursday that gave the Iranian diplomat 48 hours to leave the South American country.

Tensions between both nations intensified earlier this week after Argentina declared Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation. The measure will enable the Argentine government to impose financial sanctions on those conducting business with that branch of Iran’s armed forces and to seize any assets it may own in Argentina.

Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry replied to the terrorism designation with a statement which said Argentina’s actions amounted to an “unforgivable offence” influenced by the United States

A blast hit a pro-Israeli centre in the Netherlands, causing minimal damage and no injuries, police said Saturday, as the targeted group pointed to a spate of similar incidents across Europe.

A police spokeswoman told AFP no one was inside the site run by Christians for Israel, a non-profit in the central town of Nijkerk, when the explosion went off outside its gate late on Friday.

"Investigations revealed that a person dressed in black placed the explosive device," the police added in a statement, appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Christians for Israel said it was "shocked" by what it described as part of "a worrying pattern" of incidents targeting Jewish and pro-Israeli sites in the Netherlands and neighbouring Belgium.

"The damage was limited, but the impact is significant," the group said in a social media post.

"The fact that this took place on the eve of Easter, the most important celebration for Christians, makes it all the more poignant."

A little-known Islamist group with possible links to Iran that claimed responsibility for similar night-time attacks in Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands, posted an online video about the explosion, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activities.

Unlike previous clips, the footage by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, did not show the attack itself but featured online photos of the building and a threat against Israeli supporters, SITE said.

Police cautioned it was too early to determine a motive for the incident. An investigation was ongoing, and no arrests have been made so far, they added.

The strike in the southern town of Habbush on Saturday killed at least two girls and wounded 22 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

A separate Israeli strike on al-Hawsh near Tyre city wounded 18 others, including a child, three women and three paramedics, added the ministry.

Israel has carried out daily strikes across Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south since March 2, displacing more than 1 million people.