Israel says it has launched a new wave of strikes against the Iranian capital Tehran
It comes hours after a statement attributed to Iran's new supreme leader was read out on state-controlled TV - it his first since assuming power and included a commitment to continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since succeeding his father. There is speculation he has been injured or even killed, says BBC Persian
At least three more cargo ships have been attacked in the Gulf, apparently by Iran. Iranian state media say Iranian forces were behind at least one strike
The UN Refugee Agency says 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since Israel and the US launched their attacks on 28 February
Israeli strikes have killed several people in Lebanon, including at least eight in Beirut's seafront area, with one man describing waking up "in a panic" to explosions
Meanwhile, UK Defence Secretary John Healy says British forces stationed in Erbil, Iraq, shot down two drones overnight - some projectiles hit, lightly injuring US troops also based there, the BBC understands
In a new update on social media, the Israeli military says it has "begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” in Tehran.
It says this is targeting the infrastructure of the Iranian regime across the Iranian capital.
Jemma Crew
Business reporter
Wild swings in the price of oil have become dinner table conversation in recent days. It peaked at almost $120 a barrel on Monday, before falling back sharply after US President Donald Trump raised hopes the war would soon end.
It fell - and jumped back up - when the US energy secretary said on X that the US had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, before deleting the post.
An announcement that dozens of countries had agreed to release a record amount of oil from their emergency reserves did little to move the price down, with reports from recent days of a possible stockpile release having already tempered the rise a bit.
Analysts say the world is experiencing an "energy shock without modern precedent”, which explains the high volatility.
So, what next? At this early stage we don’t know how prolonged the conflict will be or how significant its impact.
But one thing is clear – recent movements have exposed just how much the trade of one of our most valuable commodities depends on transit through a small strait of water in a very volatile, dangerous part of the world.
You can read more here.
In the hours since this graph was produced the price of oil has once again hit the $100 mark
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
Iran’s apparent use of naval attack drones - sometimes called suicide drones - provides another example of the sort of asymmetry that characterises this conflict, as well as parallels with Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Iran had been developing unmanned naval craft for decades, knowing that its navy might find itself confronting superior - likely American - forces at sea.
With much of its conventional navy now resting at the bottom of the Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean, the use of explosive-laden naval drones was always probable.
They’re designed for one purpose only: to ram into larger vessels at high speed, evading defensive measures and crippling or destroying the target.
Ukraine has developed its own naval drones over the course of the last four years and has used them to devastating effect against Russian ships in the Black Sea.
Iran claims to have huge numbers of such craft.
If it can continue to deploy them without being detected and destroyed, then its ability to create havoc in one of the world’s most important waterways could last for some time.
Image source, Reuters
Dan Johnson
Reporting from Van, south-east Turkey
After a journey of more than 26 hours from Tehran, the train pulls into Van station in south-east Turkey with almost 300 weary Iranians on board.
Hossein was travelling to see his family in Canada said the journey was exhausting, but that this was the only way he had found to leave the country after flights were cancelled.
“I hope the war will be ended soon... my country is beautiful and they are destroying the country, for what reason I don’t know."
Hossein, an accountant, said he didn’t think the bombing would bring an end to the regime, adding: "They have wrong approach. Rather than negotiate with the government of Iran, they attack Iran. I don't believe they can win."
Another dual Iranian-Canadian national, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that many people are continuing with their normal life and going to work. While he was adamant that civilians weren’t being targeted, he said that “there is this fear that the explosion would be near us and we would be close to the target”.
Many of those arriving were too afraid to speak, telling us that people were watching even on this side of the border.
Those critical of the regime and supportive of US and Israeli military action were particularly fearful - one told me “there are spies everywhere... we don’t know who we can trust”.
Image source, EPA/ShutterstockSmoke and flames could be seen rising in a Beirut neighbourhood following an Israeli airstrike
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has begun a "broad wave of attacks" against infrastructure belonging to the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
It says the strikes are being carried out "in parallel" with attacks in Beirut, Lebanon's capital.
The statement comes after the IDF issued a warning to residents in Beirut, specifically those in the Bachura neighbourhood, to evacuate immediately.
We're seeing new pictures from Tehran, where air strikes by Israel and the US have reduced some buildings to rubble.
People can be seen inspecting their homes and gathering what remains of their belongings.
Rescue crews with sniffer dogs are also pictured searching through the wreckage.
"I don’t have anything called a routine anymore," one Tehran resident told BBC Persian earlier. "I can’t go cycling or running outside."
Image source, ReutersA woman inspects the damage inside her apartment
Image source, ReutersA family gathers their remaining furniture
Image source, EPARescue workers work among the rubble
BBC Persian
More now from BBC Persian, which has heard from an Iranian woman in Karaj.
Today, on the 13th day of the war, "the situation is still the same" as it has been since the start, she says.
But there are more checkpoints now, and though Persian New Year is close, most shops are closed and the city "feels strangely quiet".
Larger shops are open, and although there are no shortages, "prices have risen drastically", she says.
She and many of her friends are taking medication for the stress. "The worst part is that you never know where they might have moved the forces or equipment that are being targeted," she says.
"It could suddenly end up somewhere close to your home, maybe even the street behind you, and without you knowing anything, everything could explode suddenly.
"My cat gets very scared. I made a small place for her inside a closet so she can hide."
She hears from friends in areas where there more strikes - one who lives in the same city has described a strike hitting near their home, shaking the house and shattering the windows, with the electricity cut off for hours.
"The biggest fear is that after enduring all of this suffering, the clerics will still remain in power and the Islamic Republic will still be ruling," she says.
Deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi has denied Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, days after the US said it had struck vessels equipped to do so operating close to the shipping channel.
"Some countries have already talked to us about passing the Strait and we have cooperated with them," Takht-Ravanchi tells AFP news agency.
But countries which "joined the aggression" against Iran "should not benefit from safe passage", he adds, saying the regime wants to ensure war can't be "imposed" on it again.
He continues: "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."
Jonathan Josephs
Business reporter
As Iran vows to continue target shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, around 20,000 seafarers remain stuck on vessels in the Persian Gulf.
BBC News understands that eight seafarers have now been killed since this conflict began and three more remain unaccounted for as a result of the attack on a Thai-flagged bulk carrier, the Mayuree Naree.
The welfare of the men and women who move goods around the world by sea will be at the top of the agenda when the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) meets next week.
The emergency meeting in London was called by Egypt, France, Qatar, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.
However, aside from diplomatic pressure and a statement condemning what’s happening it’s hard to see what action the IMO can take.
It’s regulations require ships to be “sufficiently and efficiently manned”.
So whilst the IMO is trying to coordinate efforts to look after those who are stuck on board with supplies and internet access, they remain sitting targets for further Iranian attacks.
BBC Persian
Image source, ReutersBBC Persian has heard from an Iranian woman in Karaj - a city just west of Tehran - who has only just been able to access the internet since the first the war began.
"The atmosphere in Iran is extremely suffocating. It has always been oppressive but now fear and terror have been added to it," she says.
"On the first day, when the war started, most of us woke up to the sound of explosions. About an hour later the internet was cut off, and we kept following the news through satellite TV," she says.
Lines for petrol started that same day, she says, and paramilitaries linked to the regime quickly appeared on the streets.
Late that night, it was announced the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed, and "all the neighbours were celebrating from their balconies or windows", she says, before paramilitaries returned and people fell silent.
"Every day we receive many SMS messages - warnings, threats, or false news. And every night supporters of the government organise mourning or celebration processions. The whole situation feels like nothing in this country belongs to us, as if we are strangers in our own city," she says.
BBC Persian is the Persian language service of BBC News, used by 24 million people around the world - the majority in Iran - despite being blocked and routinely jammed by Iranian authorities.
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
The latest estimates from the United Nations Refugee Agency point to an alarming rise in the price paid by civilians over the course of just two weeks of war.
It says as many as 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since Israel and the US launched their attacks on 28 February.
Large numbers are fleeing the capital Tehran and other major cities, looking for safety in rural areas. They include many Afghan refugees, some of whom have been living in Iran for decades and often in already difficult conditions.
The US and Israel say they are attacking military and security targets, but these are often inside densely populated areas.
Such is the intensity of Operation Epic Fury that civilians, including many who are deeply hostile to their own government, have been forced to flee an increasingly precarious situation.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly urged Iranians to turn on the regime. At the moment people are too busy simply trying to survive.
Theo Leggett
International Business Correspondent
Earlier Donald Trump said that as the world’s largest oil producer, the US makes “a lot of money” when prices rise.
The US is indeed the world’s largest oil producer, extracting more than 13 million barrels per day in 2024.
It also produces large quantities of natural gas. While much of this is used domestically, a significant proportion is exported.
Those exports will sell for a higher price, benefiting US producers. However, the US also imports significant quantities of oil and refined products, notably from Canada but also from Mexico, Brazil and the Middle East.
These will cost more – and that will limit the overall benefits to the economy. Where extra profits are coming in, oil companies and their shareholders will benefit.
However, higher fuel prices will hurt motorists, while businesses will face increasing costs for making or transporting goods.
The death toll in Lebanon has risen to 687 since 2 March, the Ministry of Public Health says.
That figure is up from 634 yesterday and includes 98 children and 62 women.
Officials say 1,774 people have been injured in the same period, including 304 children and 328 women.
Israel has launched a military offensive against Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group which operates from Lebanon, and has launched daily air strikes, as well as pushing troops further into southern Lebanon.
Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter
The oil price has risen further this afternoon, ticking up to $101 a barrel, an increase of 10% today.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said earlier that the "lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz" should still be used, in remarks attributed to him and read out on state TV.
On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that any vessel linked to the US, Israel or their allies would be targeted.
"You will not be able to artificially lower the price of oil. Expect oil at $200 per barrel," a spokesperson said.
Asked if this was possible, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNN on Thursday: "I would say unlikely, but we are focused on the military operation and solving a problem.”
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian
Iran's Fars News Agency has reported that Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, wife of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is alive.
The agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, says that earlier reports about her death are false.
Iran state TV channel Two had reported on 2 March that Bagherzadeh was killed “at home”, while other Iranian outlets said she was in a coma.
Previously, Iranian media said that Khamenei’s daughter, grandchild and son-in-law were killed.
Khamenei and his wife had six children - four sons and two daughters.
Image source, ReutersWhite House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says Iranian drones pose "no threat" to the US mainland.
It comes after ABC News published a story saying the FBI had warned police departments in California that Iran could "retaliate" for US attacks by "launching drones" from a vessel off the west coast of the US.
"They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip," Leavitt writes on X.
"TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did," she adds.
Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was "not aware of any imminent threats" to the state at this time, but was in "constant coordination" with security and intelligence officials.
Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent
British troops at a base in Iraq have come under attack from Iranian drones, BBC News understands.
There were no British casualties in the attack, but some US troops were injured.
The Western base in Erbil, northern Iraq, is controlled by the US but often houses other coalition forces, including British troops.
A British presence has been deployed to the region in recent weeks to take down Iranian drones.
It’s understood that two Iranian drones headed for the base were destroyed with surface-to-air missiles overnight on Wednesday.
An unknown number of projectiles did hit the base, resulting in injuries to US troops, but they are not thought to be serious.
Alice Cuddy
Reporting from central Beirut
Israeli strikes just hit a building less than 500m away from our location in central Beirut.
It followed an Israeli military warning that it would be targeting a building, which it described as being "a facility belonging to the terrorist group Hezbollah".
A warning hit came before the building was struck, sending a plume of grey smoke over the city.
More strikes followed, shaking the windows of the building where we're reporting from.
The IDF issued a warning to residents in Beirut, telling them to evacuate immediately. It specifically warns those in the Bachura neighbourhood.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a map on X with a building near to University Saint Joseph highlighted. He said to those in the building: "You are located near a facility affiliated with the terrorist Hezbollah, which the Israel Defense Forces will act against."
"To ensure your safety and the safety of your family members, you must immediately evacuate the specified building and those adjacent to it, and stay away from them by a distance of at least 300 meters," he added.
