Iran US tensions news: US-Israel strikes on Tehran spark conflict in Middle East; Netanyahu, Trump hold phone call

Iran US tensions news LIVE: This blog is now closed and will not be updated.

The army of Jordan dealt with incoming fire today targeting its territory, the country's official news agency reported

“The military source indicated that 13 ballistic missiles were successfully intercepted by Jordanian air defense systems, while drones were shot down after being engaged,” the report says.

Material damage resulted from the interceptions, but so far, no casualties have been reported, it added.

Israel has said that it hit about 500 targets in Iran, including missile launchers, air defences, AFP reported.

Several tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, and Tehran said it had closed navigation, trading sources qoted by Reuters said.

"Our ships will stay put for several days," one top executive at a major trading desk said. Satellite images from tanker trackers showed vessels piling up next to big ports, such as Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, and not moving through Hormuz.

Multiple vessels in the area have received VHF transmission from Iran's Revolutionary Guards that "no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz", an official with the EU naval mission Aspides told Reuters.

A gymnasium in Iran's Lamerd was hit in attacks carried out by the US and Israel, according to Fars news agency.

“Initial estimates indicate that more than 15 people were killed in this apparent crime,” it added. “At the time of the attack, children were playing and exercising in this hall.”

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Saturday it had seen no "radiological impact" from U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran or retaliatory strikes in other countries in the region, though it did not say whether Iranian nuclear sites had been targeted.

"The IAEA is closely monitoring developments in the Middle East, and urges restraint to avoid any nuclear safety risks to people in the region," the International Atomic Energy Agency said on X.

"The IAEA is in permanent contact with countries in the region. So far, no evidence of any radiological impact."

Airlines on Saturday cancelled about half of their flights to Qatar and Israel, and about 28%to Kuwait, after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, according to preliminary data from the provider Cirium.

In total, about 24% of flights to the Middle East were cancelled, according to the data.

Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai's famed man-made island, The Palm, as authorities reported four injured.

The attack came as Iran carried out retaliatory strikes in the oil-rich Gulf following US and Israeli attacks -- rattling a region long seen as a haven of peace and security.

Lebanon's Hezbollah expressed solidarity with Iran on Saturday as it came under attack from the United States and Israel, warning in a statement of dire consequences for the region without saying whether it would get involved.

In a statement, Hezbollah said the consequences of the US-Israeli plan would "affect everyone without exception if left unchallenged". "We are confident that the American and Israeli enemy will receive a major blow," it said.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that US President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone on Saturday and will continue to closely monitor the Iranian situation with his national security team.

The number of people killed in a strike at an elementary girls’ school in Minab, in the southern province of Hormozgan, has now risen to 85, Tasnim news agency reported.

Qatar’s Interior Ministry has urged people in the country to “remain indoors” amid the Iranian attacks.

“Stay away from windows and open areas, and avoid leaving their homes except in cases of absolute necessity until the situation stabilises,” it said in a social media post.

At least three new bangs have just been heard in Qatar’s capital, Doha, Al Jazeera reported.

In the run-up to the US and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the US Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would likely be replaced by hardline figures from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Reuters reported, quoting two sources briefed on the matter.

Iran has submitted a letter to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which it called on the UN to “bear responsibility for international peace”.

The letter said, “Iran urgently calls upon the members of the Security Council to convene, without delay, an emergency meeting of the Council to address the US and Israeli regime’s acts of aggression, breach of peace which is a real and serious threat to international peace and security, and to take the necessary and immediate measures to halt this unlawful use of force and to ensure accountability.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran calls on all Member States of the United Nations that bear responsibility for international peace and security to unequivocally condemn this act of aggression and to undertake urgent and collective measures to confront it, as it undoubtedly poses an unprecedented threat to regional as well as global peace and security.”

Iran has announced it is closing all universities nationwide until further notice, state media reported.

Turkey on Saturday urged "all parties" to end the spiral of violence initiated with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with its top diplomat calling his Iranian counterpart about ways to halt the attacks.

The confrontation began with the Israeli and US strikes and quickly broadened regionally as Tehran retaliated against Gulf states and Israel, with Turkey calling for an "urgent" resumption of dialogue to end the tensions.

"We call on all parties to cease hostilities immediately," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement, warning that the events risked "the future of our region and global stability".

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan immediately spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi and six other top diplomats about ways to "end the attacks", a ministry source said.

"The recent escalation of tensions... is an unacceptable situation... It is essential that dialogue and negotiation mechanisms be urgently reactivated," Burhanettin Duran, head of presidential communications, wrote on X.

Turkey, he said, would pursue efforts "to reduce tensions... using diplomatic channels".

Hours after the US and Israel struck deep into Iran with the goal of displacing the Islamic regime, speculation arose about the whereabouts and well-being of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Israeli TV reported that their assessment suggested that the supreme leader had likely been killed in the strike.

However, the Iranian's issued a speedy denial. Representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in India, Dr Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, said, "The Supreme Leader is in good health and never has a fear of America or any other people... He will continue by his dignity and wisdom, and I hope that we will win this war."

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli army said its air force has begun new airstrikes targeting missile launchers in Iran.

Initial reports in Israeli media suggest two areas in central Israel suffered from the direct impact of Iranian missiles. Emergency crews have been called to the scene, but no casualties have been reported so far.

The UN Security Council is set to meet later on Saturday over the joint Israeli and US attacks on Iran and the current military escalation across the Middle East.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has, meanwhile, issued a statement calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and warning that failure to do so risks “a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”

A drone targeted Kuwait's international airport, causing light injuries to several workers and limited material damage, the Kuwaiti state news agency reported on Saturday as Iran continued to launch strikes targeting US bases in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the situation with Russia’s security council.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will address the nation, Al-Alam TV reported, hours after US, Israeli strikes targeted top Iranian leaders on Saturday.