What to know about the Iran war:
o President Trump on Friday slammed NATO allies as "cowards" for not sending troops to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the global oil trade that remains effectively closed amid Iran's continued retaliation for Israel's attack on the South Pars natural gas field.

o Thousands more U.S. Marines and three more warships are headed toward the Middle East, two U.S. officials told CBS News, as the war nears the three-week mark with no signs of letting up. This is the second Marine expeditionary unit the Pentagon has sent toward the region since the start of the conflict.

o Gas and oil prices remained well above pre-war levels Friday, with international standard Brent crude settling at around $112 per barrel, up from roughly $70 since the conflict began on Feb. 28.

o Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said ensuring Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon is one of their goals, but the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency told CBS News that securing Iran's enriched uranium will be "very challenging," even when the fighting ends.

Iran's foreign minister says Starmer is "putting British lives in danger"
Iran's foreign minister alleged Friday that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is endangering British lives by allowing the U.S. military to use U.K. bases to launch strikes against Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media that the "vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-U.S. war."

Araghchi added that Starmer "is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran."

Earlier Friday, Starmer's office announced in a statement that the U.K. had given specific permission for the U.S. to use its bases to launch strikes on Iranian "missile sites and capabilities" that were being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump says U.S. considering "winding down" its war against Iran
President Trump on Friday evening said that the U.S. was considering "winding down" its military operations in its war against Iran.

"We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president listed a series of objectives, which he said included preventing Iran from getting "close to Nuclear Capability" and "completely degrading" Iran's missile capabilities and launchers, as well as "eliminating" Iran's navy and air force.

This comes, however, after multiple sources briefed on discussions told CBS News earlier Friday that Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for the possibility of deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran.

Mr. Trump has been deliberating whether to position ground forces in the region, the sources said.

Is the Trump administration's efforts to lower oil and gas prices working?
Although the Trump administration is pulling multiple levers to tame energy costs amid the widening Iran war, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. on Friday neared $4 a gallon, raising questions about whether those efforts are working.

The most effective measure for bringing down oil prices would be to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Persian Gulf waterway that handles some 20% of the world's oil and natural gas supplies, according to experts. The strait remains virtually closed as violence in the region escalates, bringing shipping traffic to a near-halt.

In the meantime, the U.S. is turning to other options to counter rising oil prices, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, at about $108 a barrel, a 48% surge since the start of the war. The Trump administration's strategies range from tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to easing government regulations that boost the cost of petroleum products.

Former Iran detainees fear Americans held in Iranian prisons face heightened danger
Former Iran detainee Siamak Namazi says he's worried about the handful of Americans known to be held inside Iranian prisons as the war continues.

"They are the easiest-to-grab punching bag right now in the hands of that rogue regime," he said during a panel discussion with "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."

"I think this is a dangerous time," said Namazi. He added, "For a hostage or wrongfully detained citizen abroad, their biggest fear is to be forgotten, and this is a very dangerous time for them, with all that's going on in Washington's mind."

232 U.S. service members injured since war started, Central Command says
A U.S. Central Command spokesperson told CBS News that 232 American service members have been injured since the war started.

The spokesperson said 207 service members have returned to duty and 10 are seriously wounded.

Asked about the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said the U.S. doesn't need the critical waterway that's used to transport oil from the Persian Gulf.

"We don't use the strait, the United States, we don't need it," he told reporters on the White House South Lawn.

"At a certain point, it'll open itself," he said of the strait.

The president has urged U.S. allies to get involved in defending the waterway.

U.S. can use U.K. bases to strike Iranian missile sites attacking ships, officials say
The U.S. military can use U.K. bases to launch strikes against Iranian missile sites attacking ships in the key Strait of Hormuz, the British government said Friday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said in a statement that Iran's attacks against shipping vessels "risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world."

U.K. officials agreed that the U.S. could use its bases "to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz," Starmer's office said. Previously, the U.S. could only use the bases for the collective self-defense of the region.

The prime minister's office also said that the U.K. remained committed to not being drawn into the wider war.

U.K. officials "underlined the need for urgent de-escalation and a swift resolution to the war," the office said.

Trump administration undertakes heavy preparations for potential use of ground troops in Iran
Pentagon officials have made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, multiple sources briefed on the discussions told CBS News.

Senior military commanders have submitted specific requests aimed at preparing for such an option as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, the sources said.

Mr. Trump has been deliberating whether to position ground forces in the region, sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It was unclear under what circumstances he would authorize the use of troops on the ground.

U.S. "can take out Kharg Island at any time," White House says
A White House official told CBS News that the U.S. military "can take out" Iran's Kharg Island "at any time," and said President Trump "retains all options."

The comment was made in response to an Axios report that the administration is considering plans to blockade or occupy Kharg Island to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The report cites four sources who have knowledge of the issue.

The statement from the White House official doesn't deny or confirm the report, saying Mr. Trump "has no plans to send troops anywhere – but he wisely does not broadcast his military strategy to the media, and he retains all options as Commander-in-Chief."

Kharg Island, roughly 20 miles off Iran's northern Gulf coast, has served as the country's main oil export terminal for decades. If its loading facilities were knocked out, Iran's ability to export oil would collapse almost immediately.

Iran threatens to target recreational, tourist sites worldwide and says it's still building missiles
Iran on Friday threatened to target recreational and tourist sites around the world. It also insisted that it was still building missiles.

Iran's top military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that "parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations" worldwide won't be safe for enemies of Tehran, renewing concerns that it may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic.

Meanwhile, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Friday disputed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim a day earlier that Iran's navy was sunk and its air force is in tatters, and that Iran's ability to produce ballistic missiles was taken out.

"We are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling," spokesman Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini was quoted in Iran's state-run IRAN newspaper as saying.

Surging oil prices affecting every link in U.S. supply chain
Soaring oil prices don't just mean pain at the pump for U.S. consumers. The impact is also likely to be felt by shoppers both in stores and online.

Global oil prices have jumped more than 40% since the conflict effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, affecting every link in the U.S. supply chain.

From cargo ships crossing the ocean to the delivery van pulling up to your door, rising fuel and other energy prices are driving up the cost of transporting goods.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, told CBS News that "all of those shifts are adding to costs, a portion of which will be passed along to consumers."

"The costs that are not passed along show up as a squeeze in profit margins and employment," she added.

Israel continues killing senior Iranian figures. Here's how they do it.
Israel says operations that kill top Iranian leaders are carried out through intelligence-driven targeted strikes.

The intelligence that reveals targeted individuals' locations falls into two different categories, according to Glen Segell, an academic and political analyst based in Israel with a background in operations and information security.

The first category is "where you actually have an informant on the ground who's passing in information to say this is the person's current location, and the second one is going to be some form of electronic tracking, whether it is through mobile phones or a regular phone or even satellite or drone surveillance," Segell said. "If you look at the Iran situation, there are lots of people on the ground who are reporting on each other."

Segell told CBS News that, in addition to informants, Israel gathers intelligence on Iran in collaboration with partners, "including Iran's neighbors, including the United States and various NATO sources. You can also monitor other countries' monitoring of Iran. For example, a communication between Russia and Iran. So it becomes a very, very big picture of what is going on."

He said there is also "a multitude" of domestic resistance movements inside Iran that help provide information on the whereabouts of targeted people and equipment.

Iran's supreme leader releases new statement
A second message attributed to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was released on Friday as the country marks Nowruz, Persian New Year.

A text statement was released by the government, with state media also broadcasting an audio version read by a radio presenter.

The message addressed the Iranian people, saying their vigilance and sacrifices delivered a "crippling blow" to "the enemy," which had thought Iranians "would overthrow the Islamic system" after a day or two, calling it "a gross miscalculation."

It said "the enemy" had a "false assumption" that the killing top military figures "would create fear and despair among the people and enable their domination over Iran and eventual partition."

"The enemy, America and Israel, have been repeatedly trying to inflict harm on the Iranian nation, but your resilience and widespread efforts have confused and weakened them," the message said.

Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his father, Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader after the ayatollah was killed at the start of the war. The younger Khamenei has not been seen publicly during the conflict and his health condition is unclear. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was "wounded and likely disfigured."

NATO pulls advisory mission out of Iraq, relocates to Europe
NATO has pulled its advisory mission out of Iraq and relocated the mission's personnel to Europe, with the last personnel leaving the country on Friday.

"I would like to thank the Republic of Iraq and all the Allies who assisted in the safe relocation of NATO personnel from Iraq," said NATO's top commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, in a statement.

He also thanked the "dedicated men and women of NATO Mission Iraq, who continued their mission throughout this period," calling them "true professionals."

The non-combat mission was launched in 2018 to advise Iraq's national security chief, ministries of defense and interior, and police on how to develop and build effective institutions and forces. It has worked mostly around Baghdad, and will now be run from NATO's headquarters in Naples, Italy.

The move came after a series of Iranian attacks on other troops at British, French and Italian bases in northern Iraq.

Trump: Iran had Russian and Chinese equipment but it was "useless" against U.S.
President Trump said Friday that Iran had good "Russian equipment, Chinese equipment," and "plenty of money."

But the equipment "was useless against us," he said at a U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team event at the White House.

Trump says the U.S. is trying to contact Iranian leadership but there's "nobody to talk to"
President Trump said Friday, during a White House event honoring the U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team, that the U.S. is trying to speak with Iranian leadership, but there's "nobody to talk to" left.

"Their leaders are all gone," he said. "The next set of leaders are all gone. And the next set of leaders are mostly gone. And now, nobody wants to be a leader over there anymore. We're having a hard time, we want to talk to them and there's nobody to talk to. We have nobody to talk to. And you know what, we like it that way."

The president also said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine are doing a great job.

Trump says "we're doing extremely well in Iran"
At a White House event honoring the U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team, President Trump began his remarks by praising the U.S. operation destroying Iranian naval vessels.

"I want to begin by just saying we're doing extremely well in Iran," he said. "The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago. They have no navy anymore. It's all at the bottom of the sea."

"We're not going to let them have nuclear weapons," he added. "Because if they had them, they'd use them, and we're not going to let that happen."

About 2,200 Marines, 3 warships headed toward Middle East, sources say
A second Marine expeditionary unit of about 2,200 U.S. Marines and three warships is headed toward the Middle East after departing California earlier this week, two U.S. officials told CBS News.

This is the second such unit the Pentagon has sent toward the Middle East since the start of the Iran war. The first one coming from the Pacific is still making its way into the region. This second one could take a few weeks to be in place.

U.K. warns Iran against "directly" targeting British territory or bases
The U.K. warned Iran on Thursday against "directly" targeting British bases, territory or interests, according to a spokesperson for the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.

Britain's Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper, in a conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, "condemned Iran's reckless attacks - including on Gulf partners and critical energy infrastructure - and Iran's disruption and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. She called for the immediate restoration of freedom of navigation."

"The Foreign Secretary made clear to the Foreign Minister that the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners countries who had not attacked Iran and she called on Iran to immediately stop these reckless strikes against its neighbours," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Earlier, Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement that Araghchi told Cooper that any use of British bases by the U.S. would be seen as "participation in aggression" against the Islamic Republic, AFP reported.

Israeli military told to hit Syrian regime infrastructure in southern Syria
Israel's Minister of Defense Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have instructed Israel's military to strike Syrian regime infrastructure in southern Syria.

The directive for the IDF to hit targets in the As-Suwayda area comes in response "to harm inflicted on the Druze population in southern Syria," Katz said Friday.

"We will not allow the Syrian regime to exploit our war against Iran and Hezbollah to harm the Druze," he said. "If necessary, we will strike with even greater force."

Trump slams NATO allies as "COWARDS" for not sending troops to open Strait of Hormuz
President Trump lambasted America's closest allies again on Friday, dismissing the seven decade-old NATO alliance as "A PAPER TIGER" without the U.S. military, and calling its other members "COWARDS" for not meeting his demands to send forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Declaring the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran "Militarily WON," Mr. Trump said in his post on Truth Social that there was now "very little danger for them" in the region, despite ongoing Iranian missile and drone attacks.

"They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don't want to help open the Strait of Hormuz," Mr. Trump said, claiming it would be "a simple military maneuver" to do so and calling the shipping lane's closure "the single reason for the high oil prices."

"So easy for them to do, with so little risk," said the president. "COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!"

Six major U.S. allies on Thursday voiced their "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through" the Strait of Hormuz, in a joint statement.

The leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan provided no specifics, but some have indicated they would be willing to take part in an international mission to secure shipping through the strait once hostilities in the region end.

Police in Scotland arrest Iranian man and a woman trying to enter base home to U.K.'s nuclear-armed submarines
A man and a woman were arrested after trying to enter the naval base in Scotland that is home to Britain's nuclear-armed submarines, police said Friday. CBS News' partner network BBC News, and the U.K.'s Press Association news agency, said the man is an Iranian national. The woman's nationality was not immediately clear.

Police Scotland said the pair attempted to enter HM Naval Base Clyde at about 5 p.m. local time on Thursday. The force said "a 34-year-old man and 31-year-old woman have been arrested in connection and enquiries are ongoing."

The Royal Navy confirmed the arrests but said that "as the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further."

The base, also known as Faslane, is home to the core of the U.K.'s submarine fleet, including the subs that carry nuclear weapons.

Britain has been a nuclear power since the 1950s. Since the 1990s, its nuclear deterrent has consisted of four Royal Navy submarines armed with Trident missiles.

The arrests come two weeks after London police arrested four men on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community around the British capital.

In a statement, the police said the suspects — one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals — were taken into custody on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

UAE says 4 Iranian missiles, 26 drones intercepted today
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense said the country's air defenses had intercepted four Iranian ballistic missiles and 26 drones on Friday.

"Since the start of blatant Iranian attacks, UAE air defenses have dealt with 338 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,740 drones," the ministry said, adding that the strikes had killed eight people, including two Emirati military service members.

Debris rains down on Israel as Iran unleashes round after round of missile attacks
People across Israel were subjected to round after round of Iranian missile launches on Friday, with alarms blaring and cell phones alerting people in virtually every corner of the country to enter shelters as air defenses swung into action.

At least a dozen salvos from Iran were reported Friday, despite the U.S. and Israel saying for days that the Islamic Republic's offensive capacities have been all but sapped by almost three weeks of joint strikes in Iran.

Debris from missile interceptions rained down on a number of communities, including in Rehovot, just south of Tel Aviv, where images showed a home on fire. The national Magen David Adom rescue agency said it was transporting a man and a woman, both about 70 years old, "in mild condition with suspected blast injuries," to a local hospital after that impact.

The MDA shared an image of first responders running to the scene of a fire in a residential area in Petah Tiqva, east of Tel Aviv, too.

A CBS News producer in Tel Aviv said there were "almost non-stop missiles from Iran towards all districts" on Friday, as well as new drone launches by Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli reservist with Iron Dome defense unit arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran
Israeli police and intelligence agencies said Friday that a reservist serving with a unit of the country's Iron Dome missile defense system was arrested on suspicion of selling "sensitive security information" to contacts he knew worked for Iran.

"Raz Cohen, a 26-year-old resident of Jerusalem who served in the reserves of the Iron Dome system, was recently arrested," the Israeli national police and Shin Bet intelligence agency said in a joint statement. "He is suspected of committing security offenses involving contact with Iranian intelligence agents to carry out security missions under their direction."

The statement said Cohen had been in contact with Iranian intelligence officials for months, and "under their guidance, he was asked to perform various security-related tasks, including transferring sensitive security information he was exposed to during his service," for which it said he "received monetary payments."

Russia summons Israeli envoy over Lebanon strike near news crew, condemns U.S.-Israeli "unprovoked aggression"
Russia on Friday summoned Israel's ambassador in Moscow for a reprimand after a reporter and photographer for the pro-Kremlin RT news outlet were injured in a purported Israeli missile strike in Lebanon.

Israeli Ambassador Oded Yosef spent about 30 minutes at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Friday, and then declined to speak with reporters as he left, Russia's state-run TASS news agency said, adding that Russian diplomats had conveyed their "strong condemnation, describing Israel's actions as a gross violation of international law."

According to TASS, Suini reported that no warnings were given prior to the strike, and that it appeared to have targeted his RT team, who were reporting from an area Israel had warned would be targeted.

Separately, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday saying Moscow was "gravely concerned about the continued armed confrontation in the Persian Gulf and the risks of further escalation."

"The scale of damage to energy and other critical infrastructure in Iran and neighboring Arab states is increasing. We call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, which are the result of unprovoked aggression by the United States and Israel against Iran," the ministry said, more than four years into Russia's unprovoked, ongoing full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Israeli military says it killed spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Israel Defense Forces announced another targeted killing of an Iranian official on Friday, saying an intelligence-guided airstrike "eliminated Ali Mohammad Naini, the Spokesperson and Head of the Public Relations" for Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"For the past two years, he served as the IRGC's main propagandist as part of the Iranian terror regime," the IDF said, accusing Naini of spreading Iranian propaganda "to its proxies across the Middle East in order to influence and advance terror attacks against the State of Israel from the different fronts."

"Naini's elimination joins a series of eliminations of dozens of senior figures of the Iranian regime during the operation," the IDF said, adding that it would "continue to operate with determination against the commanders and senior officials of the Iranian terror regime."

The IDF announced the killing earlier this week of Iranian Supreme National Security Council leader Ali Larijani, who was in charge of the IRGC and other security forces, in a similar targeted assassination earlier this week.

Sri Lanka denied U.S. military planes access for Iran war, "steadfastly maintaining our position of neutrality"
Sri Lanka refused permission to the United States to station two of its warplanes at a civilian airport in the island's south in early March, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Friday.

Washington wanted to relocate two of its missile-armed aircraft from a base in Djibouti to Sri Lanka's civilian Mattala International Airport, Dissanayake told parliament.

The request, made on Feb. 26, two days before the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran began, was turned down to maintain Colombo's neutrality and ensure its territory was not used for any military purpose that could help or hinder either side, he said.

Sri Lanka was drawn into the consequences of the war when a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, just off its coast in March.

"They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles to Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8, and we said 'no'," Dissanayake said.

He did not say whether the U.S. request was to use Sri Lanka as a base for the aircraft to carry out offensive actions against Iran.

Dissanayake said Iran, too, had requested port calls for three of its warships, returning from India after a naval exercise, on the same day the U.S. requested permission to station their two aircraft.

"We were still considering the Iranian request to bring the three ships to Colombo from March 9 to 13. Had we said 'yes' to Iran, we would have had to say 'yes' to the U.S. too," he said. "But we didn't. We are steadfastly maintaining our position of neutrality."

Israeli oil refinery likely out of commission for several days after Iranian strike, Reuters reports
An oil refinery in the Israeli port city of Haifa was hit by an Iranian attack on Thursday, with images showing black smoke rising from the complex.

The Reuters news agency quoted officials with the company that owns the facility as saying Friday that the impact had damaged external infrastructure belonging to a third party, but which is essential to the refinery's operations.

The sources told Reuters operations at the refinery would likely remain offline for several days.

U.S. pilot in stable condition after F-35 makes emergency landing after possible Iranian attack
One of America's most advanced fighter jets was forced to make an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran, the U.S. military's Central Command said Thursday.

U.S. military officials told CBS News on Friday that the F-35 made an emergency landing in an undisclosed U.S. air base in the Middle East and that the pilot was in stable condition.

CNN first reported on the incident and said the jet was believed to have been hit by Iranian fire. If it was, it would be the first successful Iranian attack on a U.S. aircraft since the war started, and it would have come as President Trump said Iran no longer had such a capability.

"Their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. We're flying wherever we want," Mr. Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. "We have nobody even shooting at us."

Explosions over Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as more Iranian weapons intercepted
Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted early incoming fire over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and mosques made the day's first call to prayers.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said a fire broke out after shrapnel from an intercepted projectile landed on a warehouse, and Saudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

The renewed attacks came after an intense day that saw Iran hit energy infrastructure around the region and launch more than a dozen missile salvos at Israel following the attack on South Pars.

South Pars, the Iranian part of the world's largest gas field, is located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar. With some 80% of power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, the attack posed a direct threat to the country's electricity supplies.

Iran launches missile and drone attack on Kuwait, local officials say
The Kuwaiti military said early Friday local time that Iran had launched missile and drone strikes on the country.

In a social media post, the Kuwait Armed Forces said that if explosions were heard, "they are the result of air defense systems intercepting the hostile attacks."

An earlier drone strike on Kuwait's state-owned Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire but caused no injuries, the state-run KUNA news agency reported Thursday.

The Kuwaiti military previously reported that it was targeted with 18 Iranian drones over a period of 24 hours on Wednesday into Thursday, 13 of which were intercepted and destroyed. Two of the drones struck the refinery, the military said.

Israeli military hits Tehran with "wave of strikes," IDF says
Israel pounded Tehran with airstrikes Friday morning local time as Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year.

Activists reported hearing strikes around Iran's capital. The attacks came a day after Israel pledged to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field and Iran intensified attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf.

Israel Defense Forces wrote on social media that it had "begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran."

Iran kept up its own retaliatory attacks on Israel that have sent millions of people to shelters, with sirens sounding across a wide swath of the north, from Haifa to the Galilee to the border with Lebanon.

It also continued its strikes on Gulf neighbors. Heavy explosions shook Dubai early Friday as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and mosques made the day's first call to prayers.

Netanyahu says Iran's current leadership structure is "not clear" after targeted killings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's current leadership structure is "not clear" after a series of targeted missile strikes killed several prominent clerics and leaders during the war.

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani and other senior leaders were killed in strikes earlier this week, dwindling the number of top officials in the regime still alive.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader and son of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is believed to have been injured in the strike that killed his father at the beginning of the war.

"Mojtaba, the replacement ayatollah, has not shown his face," Netanyahu told reporters during a news conference Thursday night. "Have you seen him? We haven't, and we can't vouch exactly what is happening there. There is a cloud here that's not clear."

Netanyahu also speculated that the new supreme leader would not have the same influence as his father.

"I think the authority and the hold that Khamenei has had is not going to be translated to anyone," Netanyahu said. "Not to Mojtaba, if he's there, and not to anyone else."

Netanyahu says Israel's holding off on more attacks on key Iranian gas field
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country's military would hold off on additional attacks against a key Iranian gas field.

Netanyahu also said Israel acted alone in attacking Iran's South Pars gas field.

"President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we're holding," the prime minister said during a news conference Thursday night.


HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, maneuvers at His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, March 4, 2025, in Faslane, Scotland. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty

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