Iran–Israel war LIVE updates: Iran announces shutting down of Strait of Hormuz — here's why it matters

Iranian state media confirmed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's death from US-Israeli airstrikes, triggering massive funerals in Tehran amid ongoing explosions. Smoke billowed over the capital as Israel launched a second wave targeting missile factories and air defenses, with IDF reporting destruction of key IRGC sites.

Trump warned of "unprecedented retaliation" on Truth Social if Iran escalates further, while CENTCOM denied Tehran's claims of striking USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf—confirming instead an Iranian frigate sunk in the Gulf of Oman. Three US troops killed in earlier barrages on Bahrain bases; no carrier casualties verified.

Casualty tolls mount: Iran reports 201 dead, 747 wounded domestically; Israel counts 9 killed, 121 injured from retaliatory missile waves intercepted over Tel Aviv. IRGC commander Hossein Salami and advisor Ali Shamkhani also eliminated in "Roaring Lion" strikes.

Tehran vows swift supreme leader succession, files UNSC complaint, threatens Strait of Hormuz closure. UK reinforces Cyprus bases after intercepting Iranian projectiles; Saudi Arabia convenes emergency GCC summit.

Trump signals regime change intent: "Iran's military dismantled piece by piece." Nuclear talks collapse; IAEA evacuation ordered from Vienna.

Oil prices spike 15 per cent to $105/barrel as markets brace for Hormuz risks.

US President Donald Trump has said that Iran’s new leadership wants to ⁠talk ​to him and that he has agreed, Atlantic magazine reported.

“They want to talk, ‌and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to ⁠them. ⁠They should have done it ⁠sooner. ‌They ​should have given ‌what was very practical and ‌easy ​to ​do ​sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said during an interview at his Florida residence.

• Global oil lifeline: Strait of Hormuz carries 21 per cent of world oil (21Million barrels per dday) and 20 per cent LNG; closure chokes Saudi, Iraq, UAE, Qatar exports to Asia/Europe.​

• Price explosion: Oil surges to $100-200/bbl; petrol/diesel in India jumps 50-100%, inflation spikes 3-5 per centas 85 per cent crude imports halt.

• Economic chaos: Aviation/shipping costs soar, factories shut, food prices rise; $5/gal US gas, Europe/Asia recessions (China/Japan/Korea hit hardest).​

• Iran's leverage: Mines, missiles, speedboats blockade feasible weeks; US Navy clears eventually but insurance skyrockets, tankers flee.​

• India nightmare: Worst nightmare—refineries idle, 5-7 per cent GDP hit; govt taps Strategic Petroleum Reserves but rationing, black markets inevitable.​

Danish container shipping group Maersk will pause sailings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal and reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope, it ⁠said on ​Sunday, following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

“Due to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East region following the escalating military conflict, we have decided…to pause future Trans-Suez sailings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the time being,” Maersk said in a statement

Uttar Pradesh labour minister Anil Rajbhar on Sunday assured families of workers employed in Israel that the state government was closely monitoring their safety amid escalating tensions in West Asia.

According to an official statement, 6,004 construction workers from Uttar Pradesh are currently working with Israeli firms after being recruited in 2024 through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in coordination with Israel’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA). Rajbhar said the government remained in constant touch with both the Indian embassy in Tel Aviv and the NSDC to ensure the safety and well-being of the workers.

“The department is in continuous contact with the Indian Embassy in Israel and relevant agencies to ensure their security,” he said. The assurance comes in the backdrop of rising instability in the region following fresh military escalation involving the United States, Israel and Iran. After joint US–Israeli strikes, Iran launched retaliatory attacks targeting Israeli and American positions across the region, including in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Read more

From Kashmir to Karnataka, Shia mourners took to the streets in various parts of India on Sunday to express outrage and grief over the death of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israel strike.

Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran. Iranian state media confirmed the same on Sunday, triggering a wave of protests and mourning across the world, including India.

Kashmir — which has about 15 lakh Shias — witnessed major protests at Lal Chowk, Saida Kadal, Budgam, Bandipora, Anantnag and Pulwama, an official said.

The protesters were seen beating their chests as they shouted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans.

Three US service members have been ⁠killed ​in action ​as part ​of ⁠US military operations against ‌Iran, the US Central ⁠Command ⁠said in ⁠a statement ‌on Sunday.

In a post on X, the US Centcom wrote, “As of 9:30 am ET, March 1, three U.S. service members have been killed in action and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury. Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions — and are in the process of being returned to duty. Major combat operations continue and our response effort is ongoing.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Sunday that it had struck the United States aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf with ballistic missiles, following US and Israeli strikes that Tehran said killed Iran’s supreme leader.

“The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was struck by four ballistic missiles,” the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.

The statement warned that “the land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of the terrorist aggressors.”

There was no immediate confirmation from the United States Department of Defense or the US Navy regarding the claim. The extent of any damage or casualties, if any, was not immediately known.

Israel urges Iranians to take to the streets and topple the government as Iran vowed revenge for the killing of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling it “an open declaration of war against Muslims.”

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian says a new leadership council “has begun its work” after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US and Israeli strikes.

Pezeshkian made the comment in a prerecorded message aired on Iranian state television Sunday.

Pezeshkian is one of three officials on the council. The other two are Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, head of the judiciary, and Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi.

At least five people were killed and nearly 20 others injured after an Iranian missile struck a residential building in Beit Shemesh, Israeli police said on Sunday. “As a result of the direct hit, severe damage and collapse of the building occurred,” police said in a statement.

Emergency services were deployed to the site, where rescue teams were searching through debris for possible additional victims. Several of the injured were reported to be in serious condition.

The strike comes amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran following recent military exchanges between the two countries. Sirens were heard across central Israel earlier in the day as air defence systems were activated.

An oil tanker carrying 15 Indian nationals among its crew was struck off the coast of Oman on Sunday, injuring four people, as renewed hostilities between Israel and Iran continued to reverberate across the region, Reuters reported.

The Palau-flagged tanker Skylight was hit near Oman’s Musandam peninsula, in what authorities described as the first instance of targets in or near Oman being struck during the latest escalation. The vessel is under United States sanctions, according to the Reuters report.

Read more

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing it as a “cynical murder” that violates “all standards of human morality and international law”.

In a separate joint statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the United States and Iran to resume talks. “We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes,” they said. “Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future,” the leaders added.

Read more

Widespread demonstrations have erupted across Pakistan in response to the recent US‑Israeli military strikes on Iran that reportedly killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering a wave of public anger and unrest.

In Karachi on Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the United States Consulate, attempting to breach its perimeter and chanting anti‑US slogans as outrage over the strikes spiralled into violence.

Eyewitnesses reported that demonstrators pelted stones at security personnel and damaged property during the chaotic rallies.

Read more.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that 200 United States personnel were killed or injured in Iranian retaliatory strikes on American bases across the Middle East.

The claim was reported on Saturday by the Tasnim news agency, which cited an IRGC statement saying, “As a result of missile strikes on American bases, at least 200 US military personnel were killed and injured.”

Commenting on Iran’s response, IRGC General Ebrahim Jabbari warned Trump that the Islamic Republic possesses “advanced capabilities” and is prepared for a prolonged confrontation. “At the start of the war we will strike everything we have in our stockpiles,” Jabbari said, adding that Iran would deploy “the most powerful missiles later.”

A video circulating on social media shows an explosion and plumes of smoke near the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as Iran retaliated against US and Israeli strikes.

The footage shows black smoke rising in the distance shortly after an Iranian drone was reportedly sighted near the skyscraper. It remains unclear whether the building was directly targeted or sustained any damage. The structure had been evacuated earlier in the day as explosions were reported in other parts of the city.

Ayatollah Arafi has been appointed to lead Iran on a temporary basis, the Khaleej Times reported.

Arafi, a senior cleric and close associate of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, currently serves as deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts.

He has also been a member of the Guardian Council, the constitutional body responsible for vetting election candidates and reviewing legislation passed by Parliament, and heads Iran’s seminary system. While he is well established within the religious establishment, he is not widely seen as a major political

The now confirmed killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US–Israeli airstrikes on Sunday, 28 February marks the dramatic end of one of the most consequential political careers in the modern Middle-East (West Asia to us). For more than three decades, Khamenei stood at the apex of Iran’s political and ideological system, guiding the Islamic Republic through wars, sanctions, internal dissent, and intensifying confrontation with the West.

According to multiple international media reports and Iranian state sources, Khamenei died during the latest round of coordinated military strikes carried out by Israel with support from the United States, amid a rapidly escalating regional conflict.

In what would become his final public message, delivered shortly before the attack, Khamenei rejected a demand for “unconditional surrender” issued by US President Donald Trump. His words, broadcast on Iranian state television, carried the tone of a leader accustomed to confrontation.

Read more

The strikes followed intelligence assessments that Iran had accumulated uranium enriched beyond 90 per cent — near weapons-grade level — at sites including Fordow and Natanz. Israel has long stated it would not permit Iran to cross what it calls the “nuclear threshold.”

Diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Tehran had stalled. The US administration framed the operation as an effort to permanently degrade Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

Read more

The toll from a devastating joint US-Israeli strike on a girls’ elementary school in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province has climbed to 148, according to local media reports on Sunday, marking one of the deadliest single incidents in the escalating conflict.

As many as 95 others were wounded in the attack, local prosecutor Ebrahim Taheri was quoted as saying by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. The majority of those killed were young pupils, he said, with teachers, school staff and parents who had been present also among the victims — a grim tableau that has sent shockwaves across the region.

Read More

The Israeli military said Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted. The Magen David Adom rescue service said Saturday night that a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in an Iranian missile attack.

Loud explosions were heard in Dubai and Qatar’s capital Doha for a second consecutive day on Sunday, witnesses said, as Iran widened its retaliatory strikes.

Two people were injured in Dubai — the Middle East’s largest tourism and trade hub — after shrapnel from intercepted drones fell on two houses, according to a statement from the Dubai Media Office.

Dubai International Airport, the Burj Al Arab hotel and the Palm Jumeirah island also sustained damage. In the Jebel Ali port area, one berth caught fire earlier on Sunday due to debris from an intercepted missile. Iran had earlier said it would target U.S. bases in the region, but strikes have hit multiple locations across Gulf cities.