Live. Israel working to intercept incoming Iranian missiles as Tehran targets cargo ships in Hormuz

Iranian drones hit Kuwait International Airport in the capital, Kuwait City, on Thursday.

The strike caused damage but there were no injuries, Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority said.

At least 19 commercial ships have been damaged so far in the war, as Iranian continues to target vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.

Through Wednesday night, there had been at least 16 vessels attacked in the Persian Gulf and the wider region, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, a coalition overseen by the US Navy.

An oil rig was separately attacked off Saudi Arabia as well.

Overnight, two ships were hit by Iranian fire at a port near Basra, Iraq. Another was attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

Residents of Dubai say loud explosions were heard all throughout the night as the UAE’s air defences worked to thwart Iranian drones and missiles.

Euronews journalists confirmed continuous loud booms as low-flying fighter jets roared through the skies to engage incoming threats.

Videos circulated on social media showing damage to the five-star Address hotel in Dubai Creek Harbour, which reportedly sustained damage to its 57^th floor after a direct drone strike. 

Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said on Thursday that shrapnel falling onto six overhead power transmission lines across the country sent them temporarily out of service.

The debris was a result of interception efforts, the ministry said in a statement.

The incident resulted in limited power outage nationwide and power was swiftly restored, the ministry said.

A preliminary inquiry has found that outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly US strike on an Iranian elementary school using a Tomahawk missile, according to a US official and a second person briefed on findings of the US military investigation into the incident.

The US military was bombing an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part and target coordinates were set using outdated data.

On 28 February, a deadly missile strike hit an elementary girls-only school in Iran's southern city of Minab, killing 165 people, many of them children, in the opening salvo of the war. Washington has to this point claimed Tehran was behind the attack, insisting that the US “does not target civilians”.

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US responsible for deadly strike on Iranian school, inquiry says

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US President Donald Trump reiterated his insistence that US strikes on Iran had already practically defeated the Islamic republic.

"They are pretty much at the end of the line," Trump told reporters, after delivering a speech to supporters in which he declared: "We've won. We won, in the first hour it was over."

Meanwhile, Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, lashed out at Trump in remarks on state television. "Trump is the most corrupt and stupid American president," he said. "He is Satan himself."

The Thai Foreign Ministry said it held a meeting with Iran’s Ambassador Nassereddin Heydari on Thursday.

The ministry in the capital Bangkok said it conveyed concerns after a Thai cargo ship was hit near the Strait of Hormuz a day prior, but did not immediately share additional details of the talks.

Tehran says it fired barrages of drones and missiles at Israel on Thursday.

The attacks, according to an announcement by the Iranian armed forces, targeted multiple Israeli military bases across the country, as well as the headquarters of the Israeli security service, Shin Bet.

Oil prices soared back above $100 on Thursday as Iran's fresh attacks on supplies in the Middle East and threats to bring down the global economy overshadowed a record release of strategic crude by the International Energy Agency.

As the US-Israel strikes on the Islamic Republic approach their third week, the war showed no signs of subsiding, as Tehran continues to respond with more retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.

With hostilities showing no sign of ending, analysts warned $90-$100 a barrel could be the new normal for a while.

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Oil prices top $100 a barrel amid Iranian attacks on commercial ships

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Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a post on X in the early hours of Thursday that there had been an "attack" on an Italian base in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, but there were no injuries.

"I strongly condemn the attack on the Italian base in Erbil," wrote Tajani without giving details. "I just spoke with the Italian ambassador to Iraq. Fortunately, all our soldiers are well and safe in the bunker."

Italy has soldiers in Erbil training Kurdistan security forces as part of an international force.

Drones were shot down on Wednesday over Erbil by the US-led international forces, which are based at Erbil airport, a Kurdish security source said. No casualties were reported, the source said.

A Japanese-flagged container ship One Majesty was damaged while anchored in the Persian Gulf, said Mitsui O.S.K Lines in a statement on Thursday.

All crew members on board were reported safe and the ship remains operational.

The impact cause and extent of the damage is unknown and under investigation, Mitsui said.

“An inspection of the hull revealed partial damage above the waterline. The vessel remains fully operational and seaworthy.”

Crew members felt a shock near the stern and later found damages while the ship was anchored about 60 nautical miles (96 kilometres) southwest of the Strait of Hormuz.

A Mitsui-operated oil tanker also experienced minor damages from unidentified falling objects in the Gulf of Oman. The tanker has left the area and the company is still investigating that incident.

Security force checkpoints in Iran’s capital came under attack for the first time late on Wednesday by suspected drone assault, killing at least 10 people, according to a semi-official news agency.

The Fars news agency, believed to be close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported the attacks. Other Iranian media cited its report.

Gunfire could be heard as continuous airstrikes targeted the city on Wednesday night. The gunfire appeared to come from the checkpoints, which often include members of the all-volunteer Basij force of the Guard and officers of Iran’s police.

It wasn’t clear what kind of drones were used, though the United States is employing a reverse-engineered version of Iran’s Shahed drone in the war.

Israel and the US military’s Central Command did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks.

Bahrain said on Thursday it arrested four people for allegedly spying for Iran, noting that a fifth person has been identified, but remains at large.

The Interior Ministry accused all five of having “used high-resolution photography equipment to photograph and record coordinates of vital and important locations” on behalf of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The ministry alleged that material had been sent to the Guard using encrypted software, likely to be attacked in Tehran’s indiscriminate attacks across the region. 

Iran has been able to load an estimated 18.5 million barrels of oil for shipment since the US and Israel launched their war on Tehran on 28 February, according to an analyst at commodities firm Kpler.

Of those barrels, 16.5 million were loaded in the Persian Gulf at Kharg Island, with the rest coming from its Jask terminal on the Gulf of Oman.

Those shipments broadly appeared bound for China, a crucial trading partner for Tehran, who purchase some 80% of the country’s oil exports. 

The IDF said it was working to intercept a missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.

The warning came as the Israeli military also announced that it was carrying out strikes in the Dahieh neighbourhood in southern Beirut, targeting what it says are Iran-backed Hezbollah positions.

“Within 30 minutes, the IDF struck 10 Hezbollah terror headquarters in the Dahieh area, including intelligence HQs, a Radwan unit HQ and additional command centres,” said the IDF in a post on X.

“During the strikes, the IDF eliminated dozens of Hezbollah terrorists while they were preparing launches toward Israel and dismantled dozens of launchers ready to fire.”

Other overnight missile launches from Iran sent Israelis hurrying to shelters in areas from the very southern tip of the country, to the Galilee and the northern border with Lebanon, where sirens were also sounded to warn of drone and rocket attacks from Hezbollah.

Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building on Thursday in the small nation, injuring two people.

Kuwait has come under attack daily, among other Gulf Arab nations in the region, as Iran continues to retaliate against US and Israeli attacks, which started on 28 February.

Tehran insists its attacks on neighbouring Gulf countries, most of which host US bases, will continue as long as they are used as a firing platform to target Iran. 

A container ship off Dubai in the Persian Gulf came under attack early on Thursday, sparking a small fire, the British military said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said the attack happened just before dawn.

It added that an “unknown projectile” hit the vessel as it was some 65 kilometres off the coast of Dubai’s Jebel Ali port. It added that the crew of the vessel were safe.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 (€86.6) a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120 (€104).

Oil prices shot up more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the chokehold Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil exports flow.

US benchmark crude oil jumped to about $95 (€82.2) a barrel.

An attack on Iraq’s Basra port early on Thursday killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country’s oil terminals, officials said.

Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday.

Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted ships in the ship-to-ship transfer area of the Basra port on the Persian Gulf. He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone, or a missile.

Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack. He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.

Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization has identified the two tankers as the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and the tanker Zefyros, flagged in Malta.