Live. Tehran claims new ayatollah 'safe' as Iran continues its attacks across the region

Authorities in Dubai have confirmed that four foreign nationals were injured as Iranian drones fell “in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport” on Wednesday morning, just before 11 am local time.

Two Ghanian and one Bangladeshi nationals sustained minor injuries in the attacks, while an Indian citizen suffered “moderate injuries”.

The Dubai Media Office, which issues statement on behalf of the city-state’s government, said in a post on X that air traffic “is operating as normal” for the time being. 

Energy ministers of the G7 said on Wednesday they "stand ready" to take "all necessary measures" in coordination with the International Energy Agency (IEA) to tackle the rise in crude oil prices, which have spiked due to the war in Iran.

After a virtual meeting on Tuesday with the IEA's executive director, the ministers said in a statement: "G7 members will carefully consider the recommendations issued during these discussions. We agreed to stand ready to take all necessary measures in coordination with IEA Members."

US media outlets, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported that the IEA had proposed its largest ever release of oil reserves to counter soaring crude prices.

Another ship came under attack in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, the British military said.

A bulk carrier was hit by a projectile off a distance from the United Arab Emirates, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said.

“There is no report of any environmental impact,” said the centre. “The crew are reported safe and well.”

It was the third attack reported on Wednesday.

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "safe and sound" despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, said the son of the Iranian president on Wednesday.

"I heard news that Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel.

State television had called Khamenei a "wounded veteran of the Ramadan war" but never specified his injury, leading many to speculate over his health.

Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, is the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mojtaba Khamenei long has been a secretive figure within Iran. His father and wife were both killed in US-Israeli airstrike on 28 February that started the war. The younger Khamenei’s mother was also later killed in separate attacks on 2 March.

Khamenei has not been seen since, nor has he given any statement since becoming supreme leader on Monday.

He is believed to have close ties with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps, and holds even more hardline views than his late father.

US President Donald Trump has criticised his appointment, warning Tehran that any leader appointed without consulting Washington “won’t last long”.

Some tankers, believed linked to Iran, are continuing to get through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Some of the ships getting through are so-called “dark” transits, meaning they aren’t turning on their Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracks, which show where vessels are. Vessels carrying sanctioned Iranian crude often turn off their AIS trackers.

Security firm Neptune P2P Group said on Wednesday that seven ships had passed through the strait since 8 March. Of those, five were linked to Iranian-associated shipping, it said.

The commodity-tracking firm, Kpler, said Iran has restarted crude exports through its Jask oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman. The firm said a tanker was loaded with roughly 2 million barrels at Jask on 7 March.

Qatar issued a warning to the public early on Wednesday morning of possible Iranian attacks.

Explosions were heard as aerial interceptions were seen taking place in the skies above the capital, Doha, after Iran fired barrages of drones targeting several Gulf Arab nations early on Wednesday. 

Doha says it won’t serve as a mediator for Iran as it remains under attack from Tehran.

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi made the statement to the state-funded Al Jazeera network in an interview which aired on Wednesday.

He noted both Qatar and Oman had been attacked even though they worked to “build bridges between Iran and the West.”

“We will not be able to fulfil that role under attack, and that’s something the Iranians need to understand,” al-Khulaifi said. "The regional countries are not an enemy of Iran, and the Iranians are not understanding that idea.”

Russia said its consulate in Isfahan was damaged in airstrikes targeting the central Iranian city.

The state-run Tass news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying there were “no casualties or serious injuries” in the strike on Sunday, which targeted the nearby governor’s office in the city.

“Windows were shattered in the office building and residential apartments, and several employees were thrown back by the blast wave. Fortunately, there were no casualties or serious injuries,” Zakharova said.

Videos are circulating online and are being broadcast by local Lebanese news channels from an apparent strike site in the densely populated Aicha Bakkar neighbourhood in the centre of the capital, Beirut.

The intense strikes show two floors of a multi-storey building engulfed in flames.

The attack came without warning. There were no immediate reports concerning who was targeted or the number and extent of casualties.

The structure that was hit is several buildings away from Dar al-Fatwa, the country’s highest Sunni Muslim religious authority.

The strike was in an area far from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings earlier, announcing intentions to operate against what it says are Hezbollah positions in the area.

On Tuesday, Israeli attacks targeted several buildings in the southern cities of Tyre and Sidon, destroying branches of al Qard al-Hassan, an institution Israel says serves as the Iran-backed group’s financial arm.

At least seven people were killed in those attacks, spiking the death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks to over 400.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said early on Wednesday it destroyed five drones heading toward the kingdom’s vast Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter desert.

It added that it intercepted and destroyed two drones in the Eastern Province.

Meanwhile, Kuwait said it downed eight drones over the tiny, oil-rich nation.

A projectile hit a container ship early Wednesday morning off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the British military.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre issued the warning, saying the attack happened off Ras al-Khaimah, the UAE’s northernmost emirate on the strait.

The centre said the “extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew.”

Ships have effectively halted movement through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passes.

The US said it took out more than a dozen mine-laying Iranian vessels on Tuesday, after Tehran vowed to block the region's oil exports, saying it would not allow “even a single litre” to be shipped to its enemies through the chokehold Strait of Hormuz.

In a post late on Tuesday on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump, who had earlier warned Iran of intense consequences “at a level never seen before”, said Washington has taken pre-emptive measures to respond to the threat Tehran had levelled.

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US says it destroyed Iranian mine-laying vessels near Strait of Hormuz

Washington says it has destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran threatened to not allow oil to pass through the waterwa…