US-Iran war highlights: Iran targets US' fifth fleet in Bahrain using drones; Hormuz ‘closed to all vessels’

US Iran war LIVE: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday alleged that Israel was leading “mischievous initiatives” in the Meditteranean as well, adding that nobody “should chase adventures there.”

Erdogan warned that if the rights of Turks and Turkish Cypriots were violated in the eastern Mediterranean, the response would be “strong” and “clear”, Reuters news agency reported.

US Iran war LIVE: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday slammed Israeli “aggression”, saying it poses a “threat” to the whole world, Reuters news agency reported.

Erdogan said this “must be stopped.”

US Iran war LIVE: Israeli forces seized a municipal councillor and a worker in Kfarshuba, southern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported, according to AFP.

“An Israeli patrol took away Kfarshuba municipal council member Mohammad Hassan al-Hajj and worker Ahmad Salah Diab, taking them to an unknown location,” Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said.

US Iran war LIVE: One person lost their life and two crew members were missing after a fire erupted in a tanker off Oman, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.

The fire started in the engine room of the vessel when it was 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman's Sohar, Reuters news agency reported citing UKMTO. However, the UKMTO did not provide further details or elaborate on the cause of the fire.

US Iran war LIVE: Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday said the diplomacy with United States had been “damaged” by strikes, AFP reported.

This came after the US launched strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz which President Donald Trump said were in retaliation to the shooting down of a US Apache helicopter.

US Iran war LIVE: Afte reports of blasts near the island, Iranian provincial governor said no explosions took place in Qeshm, Reuters news agency reported citing the state media.

This comes after Mehr news agency reported explosions near the Qeshm island, saying the cause was not immediately clear.

Trita Parsi, cofounder of the Quincy Institute think tank in the US, says Iranian officials are trying to make it clear there will be a response to any attack on their country, regardless of the “size or scope”.

“Whether they are seeking to escalate the situation or de-escalate remains to be seen,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, asked about talks with the US, told SSN that Tehran needs to reassess following overnight clashes with Washington.

Russia on Wednesday urged "restraint" in the Iran war after Washington and Tehran traded new strikes in the worst escalation since their April 8 ceasefire.

"We are extremely concerned about the new round of US-Iranian armed confrontation, which began with the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We call on both sides to exercise restraint and to immediately cease military attacks," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

The Israeli army has issued another attack threat against Lebanon’s Ghassaniyeh and Houmine al-Faouqa areas, ordering residents to flee their homes immediately.

The forced displacement order comes despite a ceasefire on April 17.

China says it’s “deeply concerned” over the US-Israel war on Iran and urged against further fighting.

“Various relevant parties should maintain calm and exercise restraint, stop intensifying the conflict and escalating the situation, take concrete measures to ease and cool down tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing.

Israeli forces have targeted several municipalities in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

A drone strike targeted the municipality of Al-Majadel in the Tyre district

A drone strike targeted the municipality of Al-Rayhan in the Jezzine district.

A drone strike targeted the town of Al-Duwayr in the Nabatieh district

A raid on the municipality of Ansariyeh in the Sidon district

A raid on the municipality of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in the Tyre district

A second Israeli raid on the town of Tayr Debba in the Tyre district

Two raids on the towns of Kfar and Barashit.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the US military strikes on southern Iran, labelling the overnight attacks as a “blatant violation” of international law.

“In the early minutes of Wednesday morning … the US regime launched brutal attacks against areas in the south of the country,” the ministry said in a statement.

“These attacks constitute a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter, particularly Paragraph 4 of Article 2, and the fundamental principle prohibiting the resort to force in international relations,” it said.

The ministry said that it responded to US military aggression and the violation of Iran’s sovereignty as part of its legitimate right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

“The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran targeted and struck US bases in the region that served as the launch points for these aggressions,” the ministry said, while also condemning the “American regime’s crime in its military aggression against Iran.”

Iran's Mehr News Agency reported an explosion near Qeshm Island, but said the cause is not immediately clear.

US Iran war LIVE: Silver prices on Wednesday fell by ₹1,782 to ₹2,36,746 per kilogram as participants reduced their bets.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange, silver contracts for July delivery declined by ₹1,782, or 0.75 per cent, to ₹2,36,746 per kg in a business turnover of 3,921 lots.

Analysts said a sell-off by participants mainly weighed on silver prices.

Globally, the white metal was trading 0.67 per cent lower at USD 64.92 per ounce in New York.

Hamas has warned Israel against “desperate attempts” to remove key landmarks from Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem under the pretext of security, calling the move “a dangerous escalation and a violation that requires urgent action to protect the site”.

Hamas said Israel’s targeting of the landmarks – the latest being the Dome of Moses in the southwestern part of the mosque compound – would increase anger against the Israeli occupation.

It also stressed that Palestinians would not accept what it described as Judaisation efforts imposed by the Israeli government.

Hamas called on Arab and Islamic countries to act immediately to stop what it described as violations against Al-Aqsa.

The Israeli military has issued its latest forced displacement orders for southern Lebanon, calling on residents living in Ansarieh village to leave their homes immediately before an imminent attack.

In a post on X, residents of the village were ordered to move north of the Zahrani River.

US Iran war LIVE: Saudi Arabia launched its second national carrier, Riyadh Air, after more than a year of delays on Wednesday, defying the economic turmoil triggered by the Middle East war and strong competition from established Gulf airlines.

A London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Riyadh Air's white and lavender livery took off at 2:30am (2330 GMT Tuesday), putting in motion a flagship project in Saudi Arabia's push to reduce its economic reliance on oil.

Riyadh Air, the country's second state-owned airline after Jeddah-based Saudia, is meant to help turn the Saudi capital into a global hub to rival Dubai, the world's busiest for international passengers.

"We want to bring glamour, we want to bring refinement, we want to bring grace back," Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas told AFP.

The weekend exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel has put US President Donald Trump under even more domestic and international pressure to end the unpopular war he launched with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more than three months ago.

The Israeli leader favours the continuation of the war until Iran is reduced to a feeble state. This would enable him to win the Israeli general elections later this year and further his goal of expanding Israel's borders and regional domination in pursuit of a so-called "Greater Israel".

Netanyahu is against any US–Iran deal that doesn't meet his objectives. Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon to repel the Iran-backed Hezbollah group is part of its strategy, which has been boldly countered by Iran.

Tehran, meanwhile, has shown a steely resilience to ensure the war is settled in its favour as a formidable regional actor.

As a result of all this, Trump faces the difficult task of reaching an acceptable deal with Iran and restraining an unruly Netanyahu.

US Iran war LIVE: When Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs last March, and residents fled in panic, one man found his opportunity. Amid the chaos, he slipped out of his imprisonment in a Hezbollah cell and made his way to the green hills overlooking the Lebanese capital.

There, in the posh diplomatic quarter of Baabda, he disappeared inside the gates of the Ukrainian Embassy.

Where he is now is a mystery, tangled up in an ongoing spy game as Hezbollah attempts to root out Israeli intelligence operatives that have infiltrated the militant group.

The man identified by Lebanese officials as Khaled al-Aydi is said to be a Palestinian refugee from Syria who also holds Ukrainian citizenship. He had been detained by Hezbollah in the Beirut suburbs and accused by Lebanese officials of being part of a thwarted Israeli intelligence plot to carry out bombings and assassinations.

A cargo vessel has reported being approached by a small craft carrying six armed people about 88 nautical miles (163km) southwest of Yemen’s Balhaf, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says.

There was an exchange of fire between the small craft and the vessel’s armed security team, and the craft then turned away, UKMTO said.

Ripple effects from the war in Iran are threatening millions more of the most vulnerable people with crisis levels of hunger or worse, World Food Program (WFP) acting Executive Director Carl Skau told CNN.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up fuel costs exponentially, making the organisation’s operations far more costly. The escalating fuel costs have also driven up food prices worldwide. And critically needed supplies of fertiliser from the Gulf to plant crops in places like Sudan have been stymied by the snarling of the critical waterway.

It is a devastating mix for an organisation that was already having to make unimaginable choices due to significant funding cuts.

The WFP relies on government donations and has seen a significant drop in funding across the board, including from its top donor, the United States. As of Monday, the US’s 2026 contribution was around $731 million. In 2024, it was more than $4 billion.

Skau explained that in the world’s poorest countries, “when the price of food goes up 20-30%, well, they eat 20-30% less.”

In March, the humanitarian organisation warned that 45 million more people would face acute hunger by July if oil prices remained above $100 a barrel.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz were to reopen tomorrow, Skau said, the impact would continue to be felt in the long term.

Two crew members of the US Army's Apache helicopter, which was downed near the Strait of Hormuz, were rescued by a drone boat developed by a Texas-based company with Indian-American Vibhav Altekar as a co-founder.

The rescue operation by the drone boat Corsair, developed by Saronic Technologies, was the first of its kind mission to be carried out by the US Armed Forces, which have been using aerial unmanned vehicles for quite some time.

It was the first US rescue carried out by an autonomous surface vessel, remotely piloted by a human operator, the Central Command spokesman, Captain Tim Hawkins, said on Tuesday.

The 24-foot-long Corsair runs on diesel fuel and can travel at speeds of up to 35 knots. It can carry a load of up to 1,000 pounds and has a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles.

According to Saronic Technologies' LinkedIn profile, it has a USD 392 million production contract with the US Navy for autonomous surface vessels.

US Iran war LIVE: The United Arab Emirates has allied with multiple Western and regional nations to voice serious apprehensions regarding Iran's nuclear programme and its compliance failures with international inspectors.

Detailing the joint diplomatic action in a post on X, the UAE Mission to the UN stated that the country “joined Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, the UK, US and EU in a press stakeout that underscored their longstanding and serious concerns regarding Iran's nuclear programme, as well as its persistent failure to comply with its safeguards obligations and fully cooperate with the IAEA.”

This joint diplomatic manifestation preceded a crucial session of the United Nations Security Council's oversight body.

The meeting was notably convened against the backdrop of direct military actions initiated by Tehran across the region.

US Iran war LIVE: Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that he held separate phone calls with his Turkish and Saudi counterparts Hakan Fidan and Faisal bin Farhan overnight respectively and discussed regional developments after US strikes on southern Iran.

Araghchi said Iran had an inherent right to self-defense and to a reciprocal response by its armed forces, reported Iran International.