Israeli fighter jets launch assault on Iranian nuclear web site used to ‘develop weapons’: Live updates

The US Navy will escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz ‘relatively soon’ with the first likely to be this month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said.

Wright has added American naval forces are currently focused on offensive action against Iran.

On Tuesday, Wright posted and then swiftly deleted a tweet claiming the US Navy had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait, which carries around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies, has been largely shut down following the outbreak of war between the US, Israel and Iran last month.

Oil prices surged again today as more ships came under the attack in the Gulf while Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain have all been struck with drones.

Here’s what you need to know on day 13 of the US-Israel war with Iran:

• Plumes of smoke have been seen rising above Bahrain International Airport after a major fire broke out at Muharraq Island
• Dubai has come under another drone attack after a residential building was struck near Dubai Creek Harbour
• Kuwait International Airport has been hit by a number of drones with the strike causing ‘material damage only’
• Two oil tankers were attacked in Iraqi waters last night while another ship was struck off the Dubai port of Jebel Ali
• Oil prices rose to $100 (£74.79) a barrel hours after countries agreed to release 400 million barrels in an emergency move

The US military is currently ‘not ready’ to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz because all its assets are focused on striking Iran, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

‘It’ll happen relatively soon, but it can’t happen now. We’re simply not ready,’ Wright told CNBC.

‘All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.’

He added that it was ‘quite likely’ such escorts would be taking place by the end of the month.

Oil prices briefly traded above $100 earlier today after new attacks on ships in the Gulf.

Iran has launched a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets, as the International Energy Agency said the war ‘is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market’.

IEA member countries have agreed to unlock 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves – their largest release ever.

However the move was unable to overcome fears about the choking of energy supplies, with the Strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of global crude passes – effectively shut down.

The price of Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, peaked at $101.59 per barrel on Thursday.

It later pared gains to trade at $97, still a sizeable jump compared with before the start of the conflict 13 days ago.

An Italian military base has been attacked in Iraqi Kurdistan causing damage but no injuries, Italian authorities have said.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani condemned the attack, but the commander of Camp Singara in Erbil said it had not been determined whether a missile or a drone was involved.

The base ‘is within a compound which includes other bases from other countries, above all Americans,’ Tajani told the Realpolitik television programme.

‘We don’t know if it was aimed at the Italians or at the compound in general,’ he said.

Writing on X early Thursday, he said: ‘I strongly condemn the attack on the Italian base in Erbil. I just spoke with the Italian ambassador to Iraq. Fortunately, all our soldiers are well and safe in the bunker.’

US Central Command, otherwise known as CENTCOM, has released a new video of strikes carried out in Iran,

‘We are eliminating Iran’s ability to threaten American forces and regional partners through lethality and precision,’ the caption on X reads.

The footage shows a number of Iranian missile launchers exploding after they were targeted.

by Eleanor Mann

Iran’s new Supreme Leader is said to be ‘obsessed with the end of days’ and is ‘more dangerous’ than his father, according to his former study partner.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is reportedly unafraid of ‘killing thousands’ and will ‘try and control the region’ if war breaks out, exiled official Jaber Rajabi has revealed.

Rajabi, a former foreign policy advisor to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has lived in exile in the UAE since 2021, studied at a ‘religious seminary’ with Mojtaba Khamenei in Qom.

He has spoken out to warn that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, currently believed to be badly injured in hospital, is more ruthless than his father and a ‘better liar’.

Rajabi told the Jerusalem Post: ‘Mojtaba will not, from the first day in power, claim to want to take Al-Quds (Jerusalem). He is opposite to his father, who gets angry, and it is visible… Mojtaba can lie in a much better way and knows how to play.’

Qatar’s ministry of defense has announced armed forces have intercepted a missile attack which targeted the Gulf state.

More than 50 crew members have been rescued after two oil tankers were attacked in Iraqi waters, port authorities have said.

Farhan al-Fartousi, from Iraq’s General Company for Ports, said ‘all crew members of the two tankers were rescued,’ adding that the 51 workers were in good condition.

The attack killed at least one crew member, an Indian national.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, which they claimed was US-owned, in the north of the Gulf.

A major fire hit Bahrain’s Muharraq Island – home to Bahrain’s International Airport – after an Iranian attack in the early hours of Thursday.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry has urged locals ‘to remain in their homes, close windows and ventilation openings, as a precautionary measure against possible exposure to smoke from the ongoing fire being combated.’

The government department described the fire as impacting oil tanks in the vicinity.

The nearby airport has jet fuel tanks, while other oil tanks belonging to the kingdom’s oil industry are in the area.

Bahrain has moved some of its aircraft from the area of the airport early on Wednesday.

The Iranian strike comes as the US military’s Central Command published video showing its strikes targeting Iranian military aircraft.

Iran has also targeted Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, the world’s busiest for international travel.

Israel’s military has claimed Hezbollah fired 200 rockets towards the country last night in its ‘biggest barrage’ since the war started.

The IDF said there were only ‘two or three direct hits’ during the onslaught with a few civilians injured.

‘Last night, Hezbollah timed a simultaneous attack with Iran, firing rockets and drones at towns and communities across Israel.

‘The numbers (are) about approximately 200 rockets, approximately 20 UAVs (drones) and combine those with ballistic missiles that were being fired from Iran in the same time,’ military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said.

‘This was Hezbollah’s biggest barrage’ since the start of the war, he said, but added ‘we had a good aerial defence and rapid response, resulting in minimal casualties, only two or three direct hits… and a few civilians that were lightly injured’.

by Adam Pogrund

Iran has displayed its armada of explosive naval drones which it is using to shut the Strait of Hormuz and cripple the global economy.

The regime has forced shut the crucial passageway, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes, as it ramps up its attacks on vessels in the region.

The Islamic Republic released a video boasting of its underground tunnels stocked with naval drones, anti-ship missiles, and sea mines.

It shows countless naval attack boats which are used to launch drones at passing vessels, wreaking havoc on the world’s economy as oil prices spike dramatically.

Iran also warned it would make the Persian Gulf run with the ‘blood of invaders’ if the US and Israel continue their strikes.