Iran death toll tops 1,000 as Israel bombards Tehran, strikes Lebanon

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he couldn't rule out his country's military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.

"One can never categorically rule out participation," he said alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra.

"We will stand by our allies," added Carney, who had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were "inconsistent with international law".

Iran launched a round of missiles at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military and Tehran's state media said, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv, with no immediate reports of casualties.

After a lull of more than seven hours, Israel's military said it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel".

"Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," it added.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB also reported the launches.

There were no reports of casualties from the missile fire, and the military has cleared Israelis to leave their shelters.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report of an incident 30 nautical miles southeast of Kuwait's Mubarak Al Kabeer.

The master of a tanker at anchor reported hearing and seeing a large explosion on the port side before observing a small craft leaving the area, it said.

Oil was seen in the water from a cargo tank, potentially causing environmental impact, and the vessel had taken on water. All crew were safe, UKMTO added.

Israel's military said air defences were responding to missiles launched from Iran on Thursday, the first such report in over seven hours, triggering alerts in several areas including Tel Aviv.

The military said in a statement it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat".

An air strike hit the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut early Thursday, shortly after Israel issued a warning ahead of an attack.

Israel's military earlier told residents to leave the area in Ghbeiry, warning it was about to strike targets it said were linked to Hezbollah.

فيديو.. تصاعد الدخان الكثيف عقب الغارة الإسرائيلية العنيفة على مبنى بالغبيري في الضاحية الجنوبية#لبنان #بيروت pic.twitter.com/5UFBQcW9uM

— Sawt Beirut International (@SawtBeirut) March 4, 2026

Britain's Foreign Office said on Wednesday it advises against travel to all areas of Lebanon, which has been dragged into the Middle East conflict that has engulfed the region since the United States and Israel attacked Iran.

"FCDO now advises against all travel or all but essential travel to all areas of Lebanon," the foreign office said on its website, revising its earlier advice against traveling to some areas of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed the Middle East conflict on Wednesday with the king of Bahrain and the crown prince of Kuwait.

Zelenskiy also said that his administration was in daily contact with the U.S. and once the security situation around Iran permitted it, trilateral talks with Moscow and Washington on a settlement of the war with Moscow would resume.

In his nightly video address, Zelensky added that talks about Iran included leaders of Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Ukraine's partners, including the U.S., had sought Kyiv's help in defending against Iranian drones, like those used by Russia in the four-year-old war with Ukraine, he said.

"Partners are turning to us, to Ukraine, asking for help in defending against shaheds. There have also been requests from the American side," he said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it received a report of an incident 30 nautical miles southeast of Kuwait's Mubarak al-Kabeer.

Israel and the United States have made "historic gains" in the war against Iran, which began when the allies launched strikes on the Islamic republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin's Netanyahu's office said Thursday.

"Israel and the United States have together made historic gains to protect our citizens and the civilized world," a spokesperson for Netanyahu, Shosh Bedrosian, said in a video message.

She also claimed the attack was needed as Iran was rebuilding its atomic bomb programme in "new underground bunkers", and because there were indications of an Iranian plans "to attack Israel and American forces in the Middle East."

Saudi Arabia said Thursday it had intercepted three cruise missiles, as the US-Israel-Iran war continued.

"Three cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed outside the city of Al-Kharj," the Saudi defence ministry posted on X.

Lebanon's health ministry said late on Wednesday that three people were killed in Israeli strikes on vehicles on Beirut's airport highway.

"Two Israeli air strikes on the airport highway killed three people and wounded six," the ministry said.

Israel's military said it had targeted two people in the Beirut area, without immediately offering further details.

Israel issued new evacuation orders for a south of Beirut suburb early on Thursday, warning residents it was about to strike targets it said were linked to Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it struck several Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Wednesday, including rocket and missile launch sites south of the Litani river.

"Among the targets struck were numerous Hezbollah rocket and missile launch sites south of the Litani River... including a drone production facility," the military said, hours after issuing an evacuation order for residents living in the targeted area.

More than 2,000 Canadians have requested assistance from the Canadian government to leave the Middle East amid the intensifying U.S. and Israeli conflict with Iran, a Canadian official said Wednesday.

Half of those inquiries came from Canadians in the United Arab Emirates, 200 from Qatar and 160 from Lebanon, the official added.

The Canadian government is working to secure seats on commercial flights out of some cities in the region, the official said, including 75 that were made available on Wednesday and more expected in the coming days.

Canadians are advised to avoid all travel to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Iraqi security forces seized a mobile rocket launch platform carrying two missiles ready to fire at a neighboring country in the area of Zubair district, south of Basra, security sources said on Thursday.

The operation was carried out based on precise intelligence provided by the Iraqi National Security Service, the sources said.

Iran's Tasnim news agency said on Thursday its reporters in three border provinces denied reports of armed Kurdish militants crossing into Iran from Iraq.

The majority of the US Senate has blocked efforts to force President Donald Trump to end strikes on Iran without the approval of Congress, as voting continues.

Iran will target Israel's Dimona nuclear site if Israel and the US seek regime change, Iranian military officials have said, as cited by the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reports of heavy bombing in the northwestern city of Bukan, where governorate buildings, homes, and businesses have been hit.

A drone attack targeted a camp belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq, security sources said.

Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has been hit with a string of drone attacks since the US and Israel began attacking Iran on Saturday, which has seen the conflict become regional.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant in Beirut Wednesday. The attack targeted a vehicle on the airport road in the city's southern suburbs.

إستهداف سيارة على طريق المطار pic.twitter.com/m8itrzcvVF

— MTV Lebanon News (@MTVLebanonNews) March 4, 2026

Meanwhile, heavy airstrikes were reported in the southern Nabatiyeh region.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States and Israel were in a strong position in their war with Iran, vowing that they would "continue forward" against the Islamic republic.

Trump said prospective replacements for slain Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "end up dead" and that Tehran's arsenal of ballistic missiles was being "wiped out rapidly."

"We're doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15," Trump told a gathering of tech bosses at the White House.

"We're in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead."

Speaking on the fifth day of the war, Trump repeated his justifications for attacking Iran, saying Tehran was on its way to obtaining a nuclear weapon. "When crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen," Trump added.

The Israeli military announced it had launched a new wave of strikes in Tehran on Wednesday, saying they were targeting military infrastructure belonging to the "Iranian regime".

"The IDF has begun an additional wave of strikes targeting military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime across Tehran," the military said in a statement.

Iraq’s 'Islamic Resistance' has issued a warning stating that any country or entity seeking to interfere in Iraq or the wider region - including NATO, France, Germany, and Britain - would be considered a legitimate target.

In a separate development, a local commander affiliated with the Iran-backed group was killed in an airstrike south of Baghdad. According to police sources who spoke to Reuters, the strike targeted a vehicle carrying the commander.

A powerful explosion shook Tehran on Wednesday night, AFP journalists said, while state media reported multiple blasts in the west of the capital.

Iranian media also reported explosions in several other cities, including the southern port of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf and Tabriz in the northwest.

Israel could strike civilian targets in Lebanon to exert pressure on the government to curb Hezbollah, Israel's Kan broadcast quoted security sources as saying.

France's President Emmanuel Macron said he urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to "refrain from a ground offensive" in Lebanon in their first phone call since last summer.

"I called on the Israeli prime minister to preserve Lebanon's territorial integrity and to refrain from a ground offensive," Macron said on X, after Israeli ground forces pushed into several border towns and villages in southern Lebanon.

The French president said he also spoke to Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, stressing the need for Hezbollah "to immediately cease its attacks against Israel and beyond".

The Spanish foreign minister on Wednesday denied that Madrid had dropped its opposition to Washington's use of its bases against Iran, after the White House said Spain agreed to "cooperate with the US military".

"I categorically deny any change... our position on the use of the bases, on the war in the Middle East, on the bombardment of Iran, has not changed at all," Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena SER radio.

A US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, the Pentagon said, as the effects of the war in the Middle East spread to yet another country.

A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean in an attack described as "quiet death" by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

It was the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II. "Like in that war," Hegseth said, "we are fighting to win."

Sri Lankan authorities said the bodies of 87 Iranian sailors had been recovered.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Wednesday that Israel is an existential threat to his group.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanon's leaders about the escalating situation in Lebanon on Wednesday amid Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, Macron said in a post on X.

Je me suis entretenu ce jour avec le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahou, ainsi qu'avec le Président de la République libanaise Joseph Aoun et le Premier ministre Nawaf Salam, pour évoquer la situation au Liban, qui est très préoccupante.

J'ai réaffirmé la nécessité…

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 4, 2026

Israeli troops from three divisions, including infantry, armoured and engineering units were operating inside southern Lebanon, the military said Wednesday.

"Troops from the 91st Division are operating in the east of southern Lebanon, troops from the 210th Division are operating in the Mount Dov area, and troops from the 146th Division are operating in the west of southern Lebanon," the military said.

Video footage shared by the military showed soldiers carrying large backpacks and sleeping mats, as well as tanks manoeuvring in south Lebanon.

#صور أولية من نقاط تمركز جيش الدفاع في منطقة جنوب لبنان: قيادة المنطقة الشمالية تعزّز الدفاع على الجبهة الشمالية

🔸تتمركز القوات التابعة لقيادة المنطقة الشمالية في عدة نقاط داخل منطقة جنوب لبنان، وذلك في إطار مفهوم الدفاع الأمامي.

🔸تعمل قوات الفرقة 91 في شرق جنوب لبنان، وقوات… pic.twitter.com/qxoKcq2cur

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 4, 2026

Two fighters from the powerful Kataeb Hezbollah group were killed on Wednesday in a strike near their base in southern Iraq, two sources from the Tehran-backed faction told AFP.

One source called the attack a "Zionist-US strike", and both said it hit the fighters' vehicle near the group's main bastion, the Jurf al-Nasr base, which has been struck several times since the war in the Middle East broke out.

President Donald Trump is "actively considering" a US role in Iran after the American-Israeli operation against the country concludes, the White House said Wednesday.

"I think it's something the president is actively considering and discussing with his advisors and his national security team," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of any post-war US role.

Spain has agreed to "cooperate" with the US military in its war on Iran, the White House said Wednesday, after Madrid had refused to let American warplanes use its bases for the operation.

"It's my understanding, over the past several hours, they've agreed to cooperate with the US military," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Spain, without providing details on what the cooperation would entail.

Additional measures will be announced in coming days to help Americans return from the Middle East: White House on Iran

Hezbollah said Wednesday its fighters were engaged in "direct" clashes with Israeli forces in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, located about six kilometres from the border.

This is the first claim of a direct confrontation between the two sides since the war started on Monday.

The pro-Iran group said in a statement: "After monitoring the movements of an Israeli enemy army force that tried to advance" inside the town of Khiam, "the fighters of the Islamic Resistance detonated an explosive device and engaged in direct clashes with the force".

The UN nuclear watchdog IAEA said Wednesday facilities housing nuclear material in Iran suffered no damage in the recent US-Israeli strikes and there was no risk of a radiation leak.

"Based on analysis of latest available satellite imagery, IAEA sees no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time," the agency said on X.

Near the Natanz site near the central city of Isfahan, "damage is visible at two buildings" and there was "no additional impact detected "after "damage at entrances" reported on Tuesday, it said.

IAEA inspectors have had no access to the key Natanz site since it was targeted by bombings in June during the 12?day war triggered by an Israeli attack.

The IAEA reported "no impact at other nuclear sites, including Bushehr" in the southeast.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi repeated his call for "utmost restraint" in the conflict to avoid a radiation threat.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 72 people since Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said.

Turkey has drawn up plans to deal with a potential inflow of people fleeing the war in neighbouring Iran, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said on Wednesday, with preparations including possible buffer zones along the frontier and tent camps.

There was currently no unusual movement at the three border gates along the Iran-Turkey border, Ciftci added.

Speaking in Ankara, Ciftci said three contingency plans had been drawn up by authorities: managing any potential migrant flow on the Iranian side of the border; creating buffer zones along the frontier if movement cannot be stopped; and letting people into Turkey under controlled conditions.

He added that Turkey had prepared initial capacity to host up to 90,000 people in the event of a sudden inflow, including tent camps and temporary accommodation sites.

On Monday, a Reuters witness saw hundreds of Iranians crossing the border into Turkey. Others were reportedly waiting to cross. Ciftci said authorities had been informed that Iran was restricting its own citizens from leaving the country, while allowing Turkish nationals and third-country citizens to exit.

According to data provided by the minister, some 5,010 people entered Turkey between March 1 and 3, while 5,495 people exited

The Lebanese army said Wednesday it had arrested 27 people in the past two days for "illegally possessing weapons and ammunition", following a government decision to ban Hezbollah's military activities.

In a statement, the army said troops at its checkpoints "detained over the past two days 26 Lebanese nationals and one Palestinian in several areas for illegally possessing weapons and ammunition".

It added that the move was part of "exceptional measures to maintain security and prevent armed displays in various regions".

The Lebanese state banned the military activities of Hezbollah on Monday after the pro-Iran group launched rockets towards Israel in retaliation for the killing of the Islamic republic's supreme leader.

Israel said Wednesday it had struck a major Iranian military compound in Tehran housing command centres of the Revolutionary Guards, the elite Quds Force and the Basij paramilitary force.

"A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force, precisely guided by IDF (military) intelligence, completed a wide-scale strike targeting a large... military compound in eastern Tehran" that contained "headquarters of all of the Iranian security organisations", the Israeli military said in a statement.

Other Iranian security agencies at the compound included Iran's intelligence directorate, internal security forces and Iran's cyber warfare unit, the military said.

Israel had initially planned to strike Iran in mid-2026, but developments inside the Islamic republic and shifting regional dynamics brought the timetable forward to February, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

"An operation was planned for the middle of the year with the same target set," Katz said in an address to military intelligence officials, according to a statement issued by his office.

"But due to developments and circumstances - mainly what happened inside Iran, the position of the US president and the possibility of creating a combined operation - it became necessary to move everything up to February."

Israeli forces have advanced into a number of towns and villages in south Lebanon, a source from the UN peacekeeping force in the country, UNIFIL, told AFP on Wednesday.

"Israeli forces are present today in several villages, including Kfar Kila, Houla, Kfar Shouba, Yaroun and Khiam," he said.

Khiam, the deepest point listed, is about six kilometres away from the border. On Tuesday the Israeli defence minister ordered his forces to take additional positions inside Lebanon as the military sought to establish a buffer zone against Hezbollah.

Oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has plunged by 90 percent since the outbreak of US-Israeli attacks on Iran, the energy market intelligence firm Kpler said Wednesday on X.

Iranian military officials have said they have completely choked off traffic though the waterway that a fifth of the world's crude oil supplies transit, but Kpler said some are risking the trip.

"Unlike several other vessel segments where movements have largely ceased, some tankers are still travelling east and west through the strait, with a number of voyages occurring under AIS blackouts," said Kpler Principal Freight Analyst Matt Wright, referring to the marine traffic tracking system.

Sri Lanka's navy has recovered 87 bodies of sailors from an Iranian warship that was sunk on Wednesday by a US submarine off the island's southern coast, police and defence officials said.

"We have collected 87 bodies, and a search is still on for the others who are still missing," a navy official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Police and navy spokesmen said 61 sailors were still missing. Some 32 have been rescued and are being treated at a hospital in the city of Galle, according to officials.

New blasts were heard overhead in Jerusalem on Wednesday, AFP journalists reported, after the Israeli military warned of incoming Iranian missiles.

The blasts came around two hours after a previous salvo of missiles was detected and sirens blared.

Israel's military said on Wednesday it had begun striking southern Lebanon after issuing a call to evacuate all areas south of the country's Litani river.

"The (Israeli military) has begun a wave of strikes in the southern Lebanon area", the military said in a statement.

Lebanon was dragged into the regional war on Monday when the pro-Iran Hezbollah group launched an attack on Israel, saying it wanted to "avenge" the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes, sparking Israeli retaliation.

Iran is firing fewer missiles than it did at the start of the war on Saturday, the top US general said on Wednesday, as he argued Iran's military capabilities were greatly diminished as the United States expands its strikes inside Iran.

"We will now begin to expand inland striking progressively deeper into Iranian territory, and creating additional freedom of maneuver for US forces," General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news briefing at the Pentagon.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States was winning in its war against Iran, even as he lamented six US troops killed so far in the conflict. He added the United States would outlast Iran.

 The US military said on Wednesday that it killed an Iranian official who headed a unit behind an alleged assassination plot against President Donald Trump.

"The leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a news briefing.

Hegseth did not name the individual but said the operation took place on Tuesday. In 2024, the U.S. Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by the IRGC to assassinate Trump, then U.S. president-elect.

Damage to Israel's economy from the air war with Iran could reach more than 9 billion shekels ($2.93 billion) a week, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.

Under current "red" restrictions by Israel's Home Front Command that limit travelling to work and school closings, along with callups to the reserves, economic loss is estimated at 9.4 billion shekels.

Britain needs to keep a cool head over the conflict in the Middle East to address the public's concerns about escalation, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday.

Starmer was speaking after US President Donald Trump heaped fresh criticism on his leadership over Britain's limited support for US strikes on Iran.

"I know the whole country is worried about the potential for escalation," Starmer told parliament.

"We need to act, therefore, with clarity, with purpose and with a cool head."

He also said Britain had been liaising closely with the United States on pre-deploying military assets to the region.

"For a number of weeks now, we've been pre-deploying our capabilities to the region.In doing so, we've been liaising very closely with the United States," he said.

Starmer said those assets included air defence and counter-drone systems as well as F-35 jets.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Wednesday that US-Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people nationwide since Saturday.

AFP was not in a position to independently verify the toll.

"During the military aggression... 1,045 of our dear military personnel and civilians" were killed, IRNA said, citing a statement from Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.

Qatar's state-run energy firm on Wednesday announced force majeure following attacks on two of its main facilities that halted liquefied natural gas production and as Iran pressed missile and drone attacks across the Gulf.

"Further to the announcement by QatarEnergy to stop production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products, QatarEnergy has declared Force Majeure to its affected buyers," the company said in a statement.

Israel's military is planning at least one or two more weeks of operations in Iran, Israeli media reported on Wednesday after briefings to military reporters.

"The Israeli military is planning for at least one or two more weeks of operations in Iran, during which it aims to hit thousands more Iranian regime targets," the Times of Israel reported.

The US and Israel began a massive attack on Iran on Saturday involving hundreds of strikes, including ones that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior military figures.

Israeli news website Ynet reported in a headline story that "within the (Israeli military), it is expected that there will be at least two additional weeks of bombardments in Iran."

A missile launched from Iran, heading towards Turkish airspace through Iraq and Syria, has been destroyed by NATO air defence systems, Turkish officials said on Wednesday.

"A ballistic munition launched from Iran, which was detected passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace and heading towards Turkish airspace, was engaged in a timely manner by NATO air and missile defence assets stationed in the eastern Mediterranean and rendered inactive," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Italy's government is likely to provide military aid, including an air defence system, to Gulf nations that have requested help with equipment in the face of Iranian air strikes, two sources said on Wednesday.

The sources, who asked not to be named, said that while a final decision had not yet been made, Italy would probably send one of its SAMP/T batteries that can intercept ballistic missiles.

They would not say which country would receive the system, or which battery Rome was considering redeploying. 

On Monday, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Rome had received requests for air defence ‌and anti-drone systems from the Gulf, including the SAMP/T, a Franco-Italian battery.

A third source said Italy could also provide anti-drone systems, which could be transferred quickly, although a technical assessment was still under way.

The European Union sees no impact from the conflict in Iran on its oil supply, but rising prices are a strong concern, an EU official said on Wednesday.

Member states are currently not planning measures in response to the impact of oil market developments, the commission official said. 

Lebanese state media reported on Wednesday that the Israeli army entered the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, about six kilometres from the Lebanon-Israel border.

"The town of Khiam is witnessing continuous artillery shelling, while the Israeli enemy army penetrated into the town," state media said.

A Lebanese military source told AFP on Tuesday that Israel had launched a ground incursion into a border area in southern Lebanon, in parallel with its campaign of airstrikes.

The state funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planned for Wednesday evening has been 'postponed,' Iranian state TV has said.

Saudi Arabia intercepted a drone attack in targeting its massive Ras Tanura refinery, the defence ministry said Wednesday, following an earlier hit on the complex along its Gulf coast this week.

"Initial estimates indicate that the attack was carried out by a drone and did not result in any damage," the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

The Israeli military told residents living south of Lebanon's Litani river to immediately head north on Wednesday, warning that the army was "compelled to take military action" against Hezbollah in the area.

"For your own protection, you must vacate your homes immediately. Anyone located near Hezbollah operatives, facilities, or weapon is putting their life at risk," one of the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding that "any building or home utilised by Hezbollah for military purposes is a legitimate target and may be engaged."

"Residents of southern Lebanon -- you must move immediately to areas north of the Litani River," the post said.

Iran said on Wednesday it was trying to swiftly appoint a new supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes on the weekend.

"We are all trying," said Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership which is responsible for selecting a new leader.

"God willing, the leader will be appointed at the earliest opportunity. We are close, but the situation is a war situation," he told state TV.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that any Iranian leader picked to succeed Khamenei "will be a certain target for assassination".

Khatami said "discretion is necessary" given this threat, adding that the election of a new supreme leader was "imminent".

The Assembly of Experts has 88 members who are elected every eight years.

The CEO of Adidas said on Wednesday one of the company's stores in the Middle East has been bombed, speaking at a press conference.

"We have people currently sitting in shelters," chief executive Bjorn Gulden said.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted the headquarters of Israel Aerospace Industries, in central Israel, overnight with a drone attack while also saying it launched a missile at a drone control base.

In a statement the pro-Iran group said it had "struck the headquarters of the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) company in central occupied Palestine with a swarm of attack drones" at 2:00 am (0000GMT) on Wednesday, "in response to the criminal Israeli aggression that targeted dozens of Lebanese cities and towns".

In a separate statement Hezbollah said it had struck a "drone control base" in northern Israel with a "precision-guided missile" shortly before dawn.

Cyprus said on Wednesday a suspect object had been detected close to Lebanese airspace, and a government source said two Greek F16 fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept it.

Two aircraft that were preparing to land at Cyprus' Larnaca airport were diverted while the jets were scrambled, the government source said. The incident followed a strike by an unnamed Iran-made drone on a British RAF base in Akrotiri in Cyprus on Monday as the U.S. and Israeli air war against Iran continued, and two other drones were intercepted by Cyprus later that day.

Cypriot officials said they believed the drones were fired by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Mojtaba Khamanei, the son of Iran's late Supreme Leader, has survived the assault on the country by US and Israeli air strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several military and other influential figures, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

He is seen by the establishment as a possible successor to his father, the sources said.

A drone targeted the headquarters of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Wednesday, security sources said, without immediately providing details on any casualties or damage.

Iran has no intention of negotiating with the United States and can continue the Middle East war for as long as needed, Mohammad Mokhber, a senior aide to the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state TV.

He told the broadcaster that Iran had "no trust in the Americans and we have no basis for any negotiations with them", adding that: "We can continue the war as long as we want."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they control the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and gas, and any vessels seeking to pass through the waterway risk damage from missiles or stray drones.

"Currently, the Strait of Hormuz is under the complete control of the Islamic Republic's Navy," said Guards Navy official Mohammad Akbarzadeh in a statement issued on Fars news agency.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the crucial Gulf shipping route.

Sri Lanka rescued 32 "critically wounded" sailors aboard the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank Wednesday just outside the island's territorial waters, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.

No information was immediately available on the cause of the explosion that sank the vessel, but Herath told parliament that the injured sailors were taken to a hospital in the island's south.

The 180-crew frigate had issued a distress call at dawn.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry said it was searching for the other crew of the IRIS Dena, which went down about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the island.

"We are keeping up a search, but we don't know yet what happened to the rest of the crew," an official told AFP, dimming prospects for finding any more survivors.

Herath said two Sri Lankan navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed for the rescue operation, but did not say what caused the Iranian warship to sink.

Iran will hold a three-day state funeral for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes, official news agency Irna said.

"Starting at 10:00 pm (1830 GMT), the faithful will be able to pay a final homage to the body of the martyred guide of the nation, by visiting the Imam Khomenei grand mosque" in Tehran, Irna said, citing a statement from the Islamic Development Coordination Council.

Khamenei was 86 years old when he was killed, and will be buried in his home city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

Kuwait's health ministry said Wednesday an 11-year-old girl was killed after being hit by falling shrapnel following waves of Iranian attacks across the Gulf.

The Gulf has borne the brunt of much of Tehran's response since the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran over the weekend with at least nine people killed in the region in the fallout.

At least four US soldiers have also been killed in Kuwait and the US embassy there was targeted by drones, while its energy infrastructure has also been hit in recent days.

"Resuscitation was performed in the ambulance while the girl was being transported to the hospital, and attempts continued for nearly half an hour upon arrival at Al-Amiri Hospital. However, she passed away due to her injuries," said the ministry in a statement posted on X.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday he believed that Israeli-US strikes on Iran were not consistent with international law.

Speaking at a gathering of the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney, Carney said Canada welcomed steps to change Iran's form of government - which he said represented the "principal source of instability and terror" in the Middle East.

"It would appear, prima facie, not to be consistent or to be inconsistent with international law," Carney told a gathering at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

"It's a judgement for others to make," he added.

"I'm not a lawyer, let alone an international legal expert."

Explosions were heard in Jerusalem on Thursday after warnings of incoming Iranian missile fire, AFP journalists said, with Israel's emergency services reporting no casualties.

Israel's military has issued three separate alerts warning of Iranian missile launches in under two hours. There were no reports of significant impact and residents have been cleared to leave their shelters.

Qatar has begun evacuating residents of its capital living near the US embassy, the interior ministry said Thursday, after Iranian strikes hit the Gulf country.

"The relevant authorities are evacuating residents living in the vicinity of the US Embassy as a temporary precautionary measure," the ministry posted on X.