The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre says it has received a report of an "unknown projectile" striking a ship off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

The UKMTO is a Royal Navy-led organisation that liaises between merchant shipping and military forces for maritime security purposes.

It said the strike damages the vessel's steel plating, but there "has been no fire or water intake".

The crew are reported safe, and authorities are investigating, the UKMTO added.

Here's a quick look at a selection of images showing scenes from inside Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel and the UAE on Tuesday.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Israel has asked residents of over a dozen villages and towns in Lebanon to evacuate as it warned of more attacks that it says are aimed at Hezbollah.

The warning from Israel, delivered by military spokesman Avichay Adraee, warned people to move at least 1km away from the identified areas.

It adds: "Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, facilities, and weapons is putting their life at risk."

Lebanon also says six people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the country's south.

The warnings cover the following villages and towns: Rabaa Thalathin, Hawla, Qalaat Dibba, Qabrikha, Touline Khirba, Shaqra, Sawana, Majdal Selm, Tamriya, Tayri, Talousa, Safad, Batikh, Jmeijmeh, Bani Hayyan.

Osmond Chia
Business reporter

Asian stock markets slid again for a third day in a row while energy prices edged up.

South Korea's Kospi index opened as low as 7% and is now trading around 6% lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 is down by 3%.

Australia's ASX 200 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index are also in the red.

Meanwhile, the prices of US-traded oil and Brent crude are higher by 1.2% on Wednesday morning, as tankers along the crucial Strait of Hormuz remain at a standstill and fresh strikes rock the Middle East.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

An 11-year-old girl has died after shrapnel fell on her in a residential area of Kuwait, a spokesperson for the country's Ministry of Health says.

"She passed away as a result of her injuries despite resuscitation attempts," the spokesperson, Dr Abdullah Al-Sund, said.

Four members of her family, including her mother, have been taken to hospital, according to Al-Sund.

The New York Times reports that the Kuwait Army said it had destroyed incoming aerial targets, causing debris to fall on a residential building.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says 1,097 civilians have been reported killed in Iran since 28 February.

Of those, 181 were children under the age of 10 years old, the agency says. The number of civilian injuries has reached 5,402, including 100 children, HRANA adds.

It says there has been at least 104 attacks in the past 24 hours alone. They have hit military bases, medical centres and residential areas, HRANA says.

Hundreds more reported deaths are being reviewed.

US President Donald Trump earlier accused UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of not behaving like Winston Churchill in his response to the strikes on Iran.

In the video below, the BBC's Political Editor Chris Mason considers how the comments might impact the UK and US's so-called special relationship.

Qatar's state news agency says that Qatari security forces "successfully arrested two cells" operating for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the early hours of Wednesday.

Seven of the suspects "were tasked with espionage missions to gather intelligence on the nation's vital and military infrastructure," the news agency says.

Three others also accused of spying were "trained in the use of drones", it adds.

"During the investigations, the suspects confessed their links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and stated that they had been assigned to conduct espionage and subversion missions," the state news agency says.

Images have emerged showing the funerals for some of the victims of an airstrike that hit a girl's school in the Iranian city of Minab.

Iranian officials said more than 160 people were killed when the school, which was near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base, was hit by an airstrike on Saturday.

BBC News has not been able to independently verify the Iranian authorities' death toll.

The US military said it was looking into reports of the incident, while Israel's military said it was "not aware" of any operations in the area.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Former US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said there has been no clear rationale given for the US strikes on Iran.

If the Trump administration or the Israeli government had evidence of an imminent threat, "they would be shouting that evidence from the rooftops," Power told BBC.

Saudi Arabia says it will take all necessary measures to defend its security and protect residents, according to the state press agency.

The kingdom's cabinet emphasised its "readiness to mobilise all capabilities to support" ally countries as they respond to any potential attacks from Iran, the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement, external.

Image source, Getty Images

A Central Intelligence Agency station at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia reportedly was hit in a drone strike on Monday.

The US and Saudi Arabia have confirmed that two drones hit the embassy complex in Riyadh, but there was no ​indication if the spy hub was the target of the strike, Reuters says.

The attack “collapsed” part of the embassy’s roof and “contaminated” the inside with smoke, according to a State Department alert obtained by the Washington Post.

It also said the embassy sustained “structural damage” and told personnel to “continue to shelter in place”, the Post reports.

Image source, Reuters

The commander of the US Central Command has just released an update on the military operation in Iran in a video on X.

Referencing the "shock and awe" of the 2003 attacks on Iraq, he says the first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale.

He says the US has struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran and has destroyed 17 Iranian ships.

"Today, there is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman," Senior US Admiral Brad Cooper says.

With the mission involving more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters, two aircraft carriers and bombers, he says this represents "the largest buildup by the US in the Middle East in a generation".

"We have severely degraded Iran's air defences and destroyed hundreds of Iran's ballistic missiles, launchers and drones," he says.

In retaliation, the US commander says "Iran has launched over 500 ballistic missies and 2000 drones", adding they "indiscriminately targeting civilians".

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

For the first time since the strikes on Iran began, US President Donald Trump will be tested on whether he has the authorisation to launch the military action.

The vote on the War Powers Act has been scheduled in the senate for 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

The measure is aimed at limiting Trump's ability to wage military operations - but given the growing number of unknowns surrounding the conflict and previous lack of authorisation during other administrations, it will face an uphill battle.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio argues "there's no law that requires the President to have done anything with regards to this".

"No presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional - not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents," he added.

The senators who introduced the measure - Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky - have said they want it on the record how senators feel about the administration's action.

"[Senators will] Vote on whether we want to send our own kids – our own sons and daughters, the most precious resource we have in this country – into a war that could end up like the wars we have just recently exited in the same region,” Kaine said.

Danny Aeberhard
Europe analyst, BBC World Service

Europe – like elsewhere – is watching energy prices closely. During trading on Tuesday, the key European benchmark for natural gas, TTF, temporarily rose to levels more than double that seen before the initial strikes on Iran.

But the European Commission stresses that the direct impact on EU energy markets remains “limited”.

Spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told the BBC there was no immediate concerns around the security of supply.

The Commission puts this down to having diversified oil and gas supplies in recent years – in part due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. EU member states can also use strategic reserves if necessary.

The EU imports neither oil nor gas from Iran.The bloc’s largest suppliers of oil are the US, Norway and Kazakhstan.

Saudi Arabia remains an important partner, though, providing 6.8% of the EU’s oil imports last year.

The EU’s largest suppliers of gas are Norway, and the US, when it comes to liquefied natural gas (LNG). Qatar, which has suspend LNG production, supplied 4% of the EU’s total gas imports last year.

Image source, EBU

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, says the Lebanese government should "act now" against Hezbollah "to prevent further escalation".

He says the Lebanese PM, Nawaf Salam, is "absolutely right" to say Hezbollah must disarm. "But statements do not dismantle rockets... only action does," Danon says.

The Lebanese government has banned Hezbollah's military activities and demanded the group hand over its weapons to the state. Salam said Hezbollah's attacks on Israel showed disregard for the "will of the majority of Lebanese".

Israel announced earlier on Tuesday that ground troops will advance and seize "strategic areas" in neighbouring Lebanon to "prevent fire" on Israeli border communities.

But why is Israel targeting Lebanon as well as Iran? The BBC's Jon Donnison has more from Northern Israel in the video below.

Image source, Getty Images

In an earlier update, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck "approximately 60 targets" belonging to the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah.

The targets included "weapons storage facilities, command centers, missile launchers and additional terrorist infrastructure," the IDF said.

The IDF had said before that it had completed additional strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in the areas of Tyre and Sidon.

Image source, EPA

Both Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon are continuing to exchange fire as the Tehran-backed militant group retaliates over the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Hezbollah says it targeted northern Israel's Haifa naval base at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT). The Israeli military said shortly afterwards that several incoming projectiles were detected, and most were shot down.

Hours later, a loud explosion was heard in the Lebanese capital Beirut shortly after midnight (22:00 GMT), according to an AFP journalist.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

On Capitol Hill, the hallways are crowded with more reporters than usual and security is heightened as lawmakers got their first glimpse at the Trump administration's war plan this evening.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior Trump administration officials were at the capitol to offer a full briefing to all members of congress.

Some lawmakers expressed frustration at the lack of authorisation from congress on the action, while others applauded the administration for its action against a brutal regime.

"It's not if they fall, it's when they fall," Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the administration's most fervent supporters on the war, said after the briefing.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, condemned the lack of approval from congress.

How long the administration plans to be engrossed with this war and what US troop involvement could look like remains murky, lawmakers said after the briefings.

Senator Richard Bluementhal, a Democrat, said he was still unsure about the "priorities of the administration".

"I just want to say I am more fearful than ever after this briefing that we may be putting boots on the ground," he said.