Iran's Mojtaba Khamenei vows Gulf attacks, 'revenge for martyrs'

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Explosions rattled buildings in Dubai and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the Middle East financial hub on Friday, AFP correspondents said.

An AFP correspondent felt the building shake and heard a huge explosion.

Sirens could be heard coming from the direction of Sheikh Zayed Road, the United Arab Emirates city's main artery.

A drone fell on Thursday near Dubai's financial district after Iran threatened to hit economic institutions, prompting some companies to evacuate staff.

The UAE has come under repeated Iranian fire during the Middle East war, with Dubai's airport, one of the world's biggest, repeatedly targeted as well as its port and luxury real estate including the Palm Jumeirah.

US and Israeli strikes hit parts of Tehran on Friday, Iranian media reported, adding that homes shook from the blasts.

"The intensity of the explosions was such that residents of these areas reported their houses shaking. No further details have been provided about the extent of damage or possible casualties," Iran's Fars news agency reported.

An attack killed a French soldier in Erbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

A member of the armed forces "died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq," Macron posted on X, confirming the first French military death in the Middle East war that began late last month when Israel and the United States struck Iran.

Macron added that several other soldiers had been wounded in the incident, which the French military earlier said was a drone attack on troops carrying out a training exercise.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq,​an ​umbrella group of ⁠Iran-backed ​armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing a US military refueling aircraft in western Iraq on Thursday.

The group said in a statement it had shot down the KC-135 aircraft "in defence of our country's sovereignty and airspace"

Israel said on Friday that Iran fired a new wave of missiles toward Israel, instructing those in affected areas to head to shelters.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the Israeli military wrote on its official Telegram channel.

Saudi Arabia intercepted 12 drones entering its airspace, the defence ministry said on Friday, as Iran carries out attacks on oil-rich Gulf countries in response to US-Israeli strikes.

"Twelve drones were intercepted and destroyed after entering Saudi airspace," a spokesperson for the defence ministry posted on X.

Two surveillance drones came down at Iraq's southern Majnoon oilfield, but no casualties or damage were reported, police and oilfield staff said early on Friday.

An American KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq while a second plane involved in the incident landed safely, the US military said Thursday.

"One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement.

The KC-135 is at least the fourth US military aircraft lost during the war in the Middle East, after three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait.

A drone attack wounded six French soldiers in Erbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, the French military said on Thursday.

The troops were "engaged in training activities on counterterrorism with Iraqi partners," a member of the general staff told AFP, adding the troops were taken to the nearest medical facility.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it hit Hezbollah command posts in "several waves of strikes" on Beirut and southern Lebanon, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Beirut must restrain the armed group.

"The IDF struck several Hezbollah command centers, from which Hezbollah terrorists operated to advance terror attacks against the State of Israel and its civilians," the Israeli military said on its official Telegram channel.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday the war against Iran was moving "very rapidly," even as Tehran's new leader vowed defiance in his first public message.

"The situation with Iran is moving along very rapidly. It's doing very well, our military is unsurpassed," Trump said at the White House.

"They really are a nation of terror and hate, and they're paying a big price right now," added the US leader, who was attending a Women's History Month event with First Lady Melania Trump.

Trump has given mixed signals in recent days about the progress of the war, saying in recent days that "we won" against Iran and that it could end "very soon", but also insisting of the need to fight on.

He did not directly respond to comments by Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first message since his elevation to the post, vowing revenge and saying that Iran must keep a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani on Thursday said Tehran was not going to close the Strait of Hormuz, but added it was Iran's inherent right to preserve the peace and security of the waterway.

He made his comments in remarks to reporters at the United Nations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had warned Lebanon's government that Israel would act to disarm Hezbollah "on the ground" if Beirut failed to do so.

"I told the Lebanese government a few days ago: you are playing with fire if you continue allowing Hezbollah to operate, in violation of your commitment to disarm it," Netanyahu told a press conference.

"The time has come for you to do so. Now, if you do not do so, it is clear that we will do so," he continued.

Around 47,000 Americans have returned home from the Middle East since 28 February, when the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran, a State Department official told AFP on Thursday.

By the end of the day, the department will have "completed over four dozen flights," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We have directly provided security guidance and travel assistance to about 32,000 impacted Americans," the official added.

Countries worldwide have urged citizens to avoid the Middle East during the ongoing war against Iran, which has seen violence erupt across much of the region.

But closed airspace and airports meant thousands of people were struggling to find a way out, and flights have only partially resumed in recent days.

US officials in particular came under fire for allegedly not giving citizens sufficient warning to avoid the Middle East in the days before launching the attacks on Iran.

Iran threatened on Thursday to wreak havoc on the region's oil and gas industry if its own energy infrastructure was attacked during its war with the US and Israel.

"We will set the region's oil and gas on fire with the slightest attack on Iran's energy infrastructure and ports," said a spokesman for the Iranian military's central operational command, known as Khatam al-Anbiya.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei "can't show his face in public" after Tehran issued a first statement in his name that was read out by a TV presenter.

"We eliminated the old tyrant, and the new tyrant, the puppet of the Revolutionary Guards, can't show his face in public," Netanyahu told a televised press conference.

The Israeli military said it launched a new wave of strikes in Tehran on Thursday evening, pressing ahead with its campaign against Iran for a 13th day.

"The IDF has just begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran," the military said.

A strike on a base occupied by a former paramilitary coalition killed at least two fighters from an Iran-backed group on Thursday in the suburbs of the Iraqi capital, two faction officials told AFP.

The bombing targeted a base southwest of Baghdad shared between federal police and the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), or Hashed al-Shaabi, a coalition integrated into the regular forces but which includes pro-Iranian groups, a security official told AFP.

"Two Kataeb Hezbollah fighters were martyred in a Zionist-American strike on the Falcon base in Baghdad," an official from the powerful Hezbollah Brigades, allied with Tehran, said.

Israel's military said on Thursday it had struck checkpoints set up in Tehran by the Basij paramilitary force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as part of efforts to undermine control by the authorities.

"Over the past day, the Israeli Air Force, acting on (military) intelligence, has targeted the Basij roadblocks and operatives," the army said in a statement.

"These forces led the regime's primary efforts to suppress internal protests, particularly in recent months, employing severe violence, mass arrests, and the use of force against civilian demonstrators," it added.

Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said Thursday that his country would not give up fighting until the United States came to regret the "grave miscalculation" of launching its war against the Islamic republic.

US President Donald "Trump says he is looking for a speedy victory. While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation," Larijani said on X.

TotalEnergies said Thursday it had shut down 15 percent of its total oil and gas production due to the war in the Middle East.

"Production has been shut down or is in the process of shutting down in Qatar, Iraq and UAE offshore, representing approximately 15 percent of our total output," the French oil and gas major said.

It said however that higher oil prices were more than offsetting the loss of Middle East production.

India's sourcing of non-Hormuz crude has increased to 70 percent of its total imports and the country's current crude supply position is secure, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told parliament on Thursday.

India's petrol and diesel availability is also fully secure and liquid natural gas cargoes are arriving almost daily from alternative routes, he said

The panic on cooking gas supplies were triggered by consumer anxiety rather than a supply shortage, he added.

South Korea will cap ‌domestic fuel prices starting on Friday to combat a spike in energy costs stemming from the conflict in the Middle East, media reports said.

South Korea will also restrict the stockpiling of petroleum products, requiring refiners to release at least 90 percent of the monthly volume of petroleum products they released in March and April a year earlier, according to the finance ministry.

Iran wants to ensure that a war will not be imposed on it again in the future, deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told AFP, as the conflict raged with the United States and Israel.

"We want to see that war is not going to be imposed again on Iran," said Takht-Ravanchi in an interview with AFP in Tehran.

"When the war started last June, after 12 days there was so called cessation of hostilities... but after eight or nine months, they regrouped and they did it again," he said, referring to the US and Israel.

"We do not want to be treated like this again in the future."

The United States has struck around 6,000 targets since the start of the war against Iran late last month, the US military said on Thursday.

Among the targets hit were more than 90 Iranian vessels - around 60 ships and 30 minelayers - US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region, said.

Norway's maritime authority said on Thursday that Norwegian-flagged ships will not be permitted to enter the Strait of Hormuz until further notice, due to the escalating security situation after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

"Given how the situation has developed, it is important for us to emphasise that we are now moving from a strong recommendation regarding shipping traffic in the area to a ban," the authority said in a statement.

For any ships already within the Strait of Hormuz area, it will be up to the shipping companies themselves to assess whether it is safer to leave or to remain in the area, it added.

Iran is not laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said, after US President Donald Trump said US forces had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels in the waterway.

"Not at all. This is not true," said Takht-Ravanchi in an interview with AFP when asked about reports of Iran laying mines in the strategic waterway.

An Israeli strike on a campus of Lebanon's public university killed two academics, Lebanese state media said on Thursday.

The director of the faculty of sciences at the south Beirut campus of the Lebanese University, Hussein Bazzi, and professor Mortada Srour were killed by an Israeli drone strike on the university, the National News Agency said.

The campus is located on the edge of Beirut's southern suburbs, an area under Hezbollah's sway, and was spared in the last war between the pro-Iran militant group and Israel.

Iran has allowed ships from some countries to cross the Strait of Hormuz, deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Thursday, as the waterway remained effectively closed during the war with the US and Israel.

"Some countries have already talked to us about passing the strait and we have cooperated with them," said Takht-Ravanchi during an interview with AFP in Tehran.

"As far as Iran is concerned we feel that those countries that joined the aggression should not benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz."

Two crew on the USS Gerald R. Ford - the world's largest aircraft carrier currently deployed for the war against Iran - were injured Thursday in a laundry room fire, the US Navy said.

"Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition," a statement from US Naval Forces Central Command said.

The Navy said the fire, originating "in the ship's main laundry," was "not combat-related and is contained."

The Navy said the Ford is now in the Red Sea as part of Operation Epic Fury - the name given to the massive US bombing assault on Iran launched by President Donald Trump on 28 February.

"There is no damage to the ship's propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational," the statement said.

The Israeli military said it had begun a wave of strikes across Beirut on Thursday, after it warned residents of a central neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital it would target a building there.

"The IDF has begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across Beirut," a military statement said, as AFPTV footage showed a strike hitting a central Beirut building.

Up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the Middle East war erupted, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

"Between 600,000 and one million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside Iran as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to preliminary assessments," said Ayaki Ito, who heads UNHCR's emergency support team and is the refugee response coordinator for the Middle East emergency.

That represents "up to 3.2 million people", he said in a statement, warning that "this figure is likely to continue rising as hostilities persist, marking a worrying escalation in humanitarian needs".

The Israeli military on Thursday warned it would strike a building in the centre of the Lebanese capital that it said was a Hezbollah facility, and told surrounding residents to evacuate.

"You are located near a facility of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, which the Israeli Defence Forces will be targeting," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X, warning residents of Beirut's Bachoura neighbourhood to immediately move at least 300 metres away from the targeted building and those adjacent to it.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowed on Thursday to keep the strategic Strait of Hormuz closed after a call to do so by the Islamic republic's new leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

"In response to the order of the commander-in-chief, we will deliver the harshest blows to the aggressor enemy while maintaining the strategy of closing the Strait of Hormuz," said Guards navy commander Alireza Tangsiri in a post on X.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they had targeted Israel as well as US sites in the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait.

"The gathering place of American forces on Sheikh Zayed Road (Dubai) and the location of American forces at Ahmad Al-Jaber Airport (Kuwait) were targeted," said the Guards' Sepah News website.

"The residence of American marines at Al-Dhafra base (UAE) and the mobile American bases in Iraq, along with the gathering place of Zionist executioners in Tel Aviv have been struck," it added.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman accused the European Union on Thursday of "complicity" in the US-Israeli attacks on the Islamic republic.

"The European Union's indifference and acquiescence in the face of US and Israeli aggression, brutalities and atrocities amounts to nothing less than complicity," Esmaeil Baqaei said in a post on X.

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

"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.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called Thursday for an end to Israel's bombardment of neighbouring Lebanon "before it collapses".

"Israel, pursuing expansionist policies, is bringing its dirty war into Lebanon.. Israeli attacks must end before the Lebanese state collapses," he said at a joint news conference in Ankara with his visiting German counterpart Johann Wadephul.

Greece on Thursday became the latest European state to relocate its Iran embassy services from Tehran to Baku in Azerbaijan due to the Middle East war.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Lana Zochiou said the decision was taken owing to "deteriorating security conditions" in Tehran.

The move follows Spain, Austria and Italy, which have temporarily closed and relocated their embassies to Baku in recent days because of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Switzerland on Wednesday said it was temporarily closing its embassy.

Khamenei said that attacks on US bases will continue, noting Tehran believes in friendship with neighbours.

Khamenei said all US bases should be immediately closed in the region, otherwise they will be attacked.

Iran's supreme leader says attacks on Gulf Arab neighbours will continue.

Iran's supreme leader says that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used.

More to come.

German shipowners Hapag-Lloyd said Thursday that one of their cargo vessels in the Gulf caught fire after being "hit with shrapnel" overnight, adding that no one was injured.

A company spokesman told AFP that "we don't know where (the debris) came from, whether it was a rocket or a drone" or another munition. He said "the fire has been put out and the crew is unharmed".

The container ship, the Liberian-flagged Source Blessing, was sub-chartered by Hapag-Lloyd to Maersk.

A statement from Maersk sent to AFP confirmed that the "Source Blessing was involved in an incident in the Persian Gulf early Thursday morning local time".

At the beginning of the Middle East conflict, Hapag-Lloyd had announced that it would suspend passage of its vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

Also on Thursday, an attack on two oil tankers off Iraq killed at least one crew member.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday that the impact of the U.S.-Iran war was already evident, and that the risk of it spreading remains.

"There should be no questioning of Iran's territorial integrity, and no pursuit of regime change," Fidan said at a press conference with his German counterpart.

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei will issue his first message since his appointment "in a few moments", his official Telegram channel said, without specifying if it will be a recorded message or written statement.

"The first message of Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, will be released in a few moments," the channel said.

The message will address "the martyred leader of the revolution (Ali Khamenei), the role and duties of the people, the armed forces, executive bodies, the resistance front, as well as the countries of the region and dealing with enemies."

Russia on Thursday called on Israel and the United States to end their attacks on Iran and come to the negotiating table.

"Russia will continue to take steps to end the escalation in the Middle East as soon as possible and resolve any contradictions by peaceful means," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

"The number of victims of the illegal military action of Washington and Tel Aviv among the civilian population of Iran, according to the authorities, is in the thousands," she said.

First message from Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, will be released within minutes, Iranian state media reported on Thursday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned on Thursday attacks on the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which includes Shi'ite militia groups seen as aligned with Iran.

Iran-aligned militants have fired at US bases in Iraq during the Iran war. PMF forces have also come under attack, with one fighter killed in the most recent attack in Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Sudani is keen to maintain balanced ties between Tehran and Washington.

Australia has told "non-essential" diplomats to leave Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday.

Essential officials would remain in both Israel and the UAE to support Australian citizens who need it, Wong said on X.

More than 50 crew members were rescued after an attack on two oil tankers in Iraq's territorial waters, Farhan al-Fartousi of the port authorities told AFP.

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 Thursday they had struck a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, which they claimed was US-owned, in the north of the Gulf.

Israel's military said Thursday that it had struck a site in Iran it claimed was being used by the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear weapons.

"The Israeli Air Force, acting on precise IDF intelligence, struck an additional Iranian nuclear programme site," the military said, claiming the "Taleghan compound was utilised by the regime to advance critical capabilities for developing nuclear weapons".

The Taleghan compound likely refers to a facility in Parchin, southeast of Tehran, where US-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security, which has been monitoring Iran's nuclear programme, recently claimed the Islamic Republic conducts covert military activities.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the military to prepare for expanding operations in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group.

"The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to prepare for expanding IDF operations in Lebanon and for restoring quiet and security to the northern communities," Katz was quoted as saying in a statement.

"I warned the President of Lebanon that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening northern communities and firing toward Israel - we will take the territory and do it ourselves," Katz said in a situation assessment, according to the statement from his ministry.

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said projectile fragments have hit the Liberia-flagged container vessel 'Source Blessing' near the Strait of Hormuz.

Hapag-Lloyd said in an emailed statement that the ship, which it has time-chartered to Danish shipping group Maersk , was not directly hit but had caught fire.

All crew members are well and they have extinguished the fire on the vessel, Hapag-Lloyd said.

A series of powerful explosions hit the Iranian capital on Thursday, an AFP journalist said, with the war against Israel and the United States in its 13th day.

Smoke was seen rising from western Tehran but it was not immediately clear what was targeted, the journalist said.

Air strikes killed at least nine Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border, two senior security officials told AFP.

Another 10 fighters were wounded in the strikes that targeted a base belonging to the US-blacklisted Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, the officials added on condition of anonymity, with one saying that the death toll could rise.

"The base was destroyed, and the rescue teams who arrived at the site were also targeted," one of the officials said.

Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Thursday that Tehran will "abandon all restraint" if the United States and Israel attack any of its islands in the Gulf.

"Any aggression against soil of Iranian islands will shatter all restraint. We will abandon all restraint and make the Persian Gulf run with the blood of invaders," said Ghalibaf in a post on X.

It was not immediately clear which islands he was referring to, but a recent Axios report cited US officials as saying that capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East spirals.

The opening week of the war against Iran cost the United States more than $11.3 billion, lawmakers were told in a Pentagon briefing, according to a New York Times report underscoring the pace at which the conflict is consuming weapons and resources.

The Times, citing unnamed sources familiar with Tuesday's closed-door briefing, said members of Congress were told that the figure excludes many costs connected with the buildup to the strikes - suggesting the final tally for the first week could rise substantially.

Defense officials had previously told Congress that roughly $5.6 billion worth of munitions were expended in just the first two days of fighting, according to US media -- a burn rate far higher than earlier public estimates.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) independent think tank in Washington estimated that the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury cost $3.7 billion - or more than $891 million per day.

Most of these costs, $3.5 billion, had not already been budgeted, the CSIS said.

Dubai reported a drone attack and fallen debris in two locations on Thursday, with the Dubai government's media office reporting "a minor incident caused by debris from a successful interception that fell onto the facade of a building on Sheikh Zayed Road".

Earlier, the media office reported "a minor drone incident in the Al Bada'a area".

Both incidents caused no casualties, it said in the statements on X.

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

On their website Sepah News, the Guards said the ship Safesea was "one of the assets of the US terrorist army" and that it "was hit in the northern Gulf after ignoring and not complying with warnings and alerts".

Israel's military said it began a new "wide-scale" wave of strikes across Iran on Thursday, on the 13th day of the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.

"The IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure across Iran," the Israeli military said in a statement.Israel army says launched new broad wave of strikes across Iran

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Thursday that global energy markets are at a "critical turning point," after his agency on Wednesday recommended a coordinated release of global reserve oil in the face of the Iran war.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz prompted the IEA's announcement, he said at an Istanbul press conference.

The International Energy Agency, made up of major oil consuming nations, recommended releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s, the biggest such intervention in history.

Citibank will close its branches and financial centres in the United Arab Emirates through 14 March as a precautionary measure, the bank's website showed on Thursday, following a wave of banks sending staff home as the crisis in the Middle East deepens.

The US bank plans to reopen all affected branches on 16 March, but the branch in the Mall of the Emirates in central Dubai, will remain open during this period, it said.

Earlier this week, Citi told its staff to evacuate offices in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Dubai's Oud Metha neighbourhood, telling them to work from home until further notice.

HSBC, another major global bank, has closed all branches in Qatar until further notice, according to a customer notice, saying the measure was to ensure the safety of staff and customers.

Banks across the region have stepped up precautions after Iran threatened Gulf banking ​interests linked to the US ‌and Israel.

Drone strikes caused damage at Kuwait's international airport, authorities said Thursday, after the facility came under fire again during Iran's attacks against the Gulf.

"The civil aviation announces that Kuwait International Airport was targeted by several drones, resulting only in material damage," authorities said in a statement, adding that there were no casualties.

An Italian military base in Iraqi Kurdistan was hit overnight by an airstrike, though no injuries were reported, the Italian defence officials said on Thursday.

The defence ministry initially spoke of a missile attack on the Italian base in Erbil, but ministry sources later said it was a drone that had destroyed a military vehicle, possibly by accident.

"There are no casualties or injuries among the Italian personnel. They are all fine," the ministry said on X, shortly after midnight.

Ministry sources added that the drone may not have been fired at the Italian base intentionally, but rather hit it accidentally after losing altitude.

The commander of the base, Colonel Stefano Pizzotti, told the Sky TG24 broadcaster that military staff had been warned of aerial threats and had taken shelter in bunkers hours before the strike.

It was not known where the strike had come from, he said, adding that the air raid alert had finished but experts were still checking and securing the area.

Authorities in Dubai reported a "minor drone incident" on Thursday after an AFP correspondent heard explosions in the city's downtown, as Iran continued its campaign against the Gulf in response to US-Israeli attacks.

"Dubai authorities are responding to a minor drone incident in the Al Bada'a area. No injuries have been reported," the Dubai government's media office said in a post on X.

The AFP correspondent saw small clouds of smoke rise above the residential neighbourhood of Al Bada'a, which dissipated shortly after.

Iran's army said Thursday it had targeted Israeli military bases and the country's security service Shin Bet as the war entered its 13th day.

"The Palmachim and Ovda air bases of the Zionist regime as well as the headquarters of Shin Bet were targeted by drones from the Islamic Republic of Iran's army," the military said in a statement carried by state television.