Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump has criticised Keir Starmer for his role in the US attacks on Iran.

Speaking to the Sun, Trump says the prime minister "has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK."

In a telephone interview, Trump adds: "It's very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was."

On Monday, Starmer told the Commons the government "does not believe in regime change from the skies".

The UK initially did not allow the US to use British bases to attack Iran, but then opened its bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian sites.

Trump tells the Sun: ""France has been great. They've all been great. The UK has been much different from others."

We're just seeing a statement, translated from Hebrew, from Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz.

He says he and PM Benjamin Netanyahu "have authorised the IDF to advance and seize additional strategic areas in Lebanon in order to prevent fire on Israeli border communities".

He continues: "The IDF continues to operate forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The terrorist organisation is paying - and will continue to pay - a heavy price for its fire toward Israel."

Katz adds Israel is determined to "defend the border communities", saying: "We promised security to the communities of the Galilee, and that is what we will deliver."

Image source, Reuters

Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, says it has attacked three Israeli military sites "in response to the criminal Israeli aggression that targeted dozens of Lebanese cities and towns".

In three separate posts on Telegram, Hezbollah says it hit the Nafah base in the Golan Heights with a "large missile salvo", as well as the Meron and Ramat David air bases, in northern Israel, with drones.

The Israeli military has not commented on the apparent attacks.

As black smoke is pictured above Beirut - see our previous post - the AFP news agency reports loud explosions in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Israel announced earlier this morning that it was launching new attacks on "military targets" in both cities.

Israel says it's attacking "military targets" in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

We have just received these pictures of thick black smoke rising above Beirut's southern suburbs.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Katie Williams
Live reporter

Image source, EPA

On the fourth day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, here are the latest developments:

• Israel has launched a fresh wave of "extensive airstrikes" on what it calls "military targets" in Tehran and Beirut
• The US embassy in Riyadh has been hit by two drones, according to the Saudi Ministry of Defense, causing a "limited" fire
• Iranian state media says a command and staff building at a US air base in Bahrain has been destroyed

• An Iranian official has threatened to "set fire" to any ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz - a key route for global energy supplies
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday "the hardest hits are yet to come" from the US military on Iran. He was speaking after Donald Trump called Saturday's strikes "the last, best chance" to eliminate "threats" from Tehran
• Six US service members have been killed since the war began. Three US fighter jets were shot down yesterday in Kuwait an "apparent friendly fire incident" - the crews survived
• Yesterday, UK PM Keir Starmer told MPs he "does not believe in regime change from the skies". But he is allowing the US to use British military bases for "defensive" strikes on Iranian missile sites

As for what happens next? "It is way too soon to have any idea of when or how the war will finish," says the BBC's international editor Jeremy Bowen.

The US embassy in Kuwait is closed "until further notice" according to a post on its X account, citing "ongoing regional tensions".

The embassy says that "we have cancelled all regular and emergency consular appointments".

On Monday, the US State Department urged Americans in many parts of the Middle East - including Kuwait - to leave now via commercial means due to "serious safety risks".

Three US fighter planes crashed in the country on Monday in an "apparent friendly fire incident".

The closure of the Kuwaiti embassy comes after the US embassy in Riyadh was attacked by two drones overnight.

President Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to comment on US stocks of "medium and upper medium grade" munitions, adding that wars "can be fought 'forever'... using just these supplies".

"We have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!" Trump writes, posting just before midnight in Washington DC (05:00 GMT).

In his latest remarks, he also accuses his predecessor Joe Biden of providing Ukraine with "so much of the super high end" US weapons.

At the end of his four-year term, Biden had allowed Ukraine to use powerful long-range ATACMS missiles, capable of striking up to 190 miles (300km).

Image source, Reuters

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has confirmed that it launched strikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran, as well as the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

“The IDF is currently conducting simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut,” it said in a statement.

The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said "a wave of extensive airstrikes" was underway.

The strikes come about an hour after the IDF issued an “urgent warning” to people in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in dozens of villages, calling for them to evacuate. The IDF had said it was targeting command centres and storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest on this.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued an “urgent warning” to people in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in dozens of villages.

It says people should stay away from buildings affiliated with Hezbollah and that anyone near them is at risk

"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said.

As the warning was issued, thick clouds of black smoke could be seen rising into the early morning sky over Beirut and Reuters reported that loud blasts could be heard.

Reports are emerging of an Iranian strike destroying the main command headquarters of a US air base in Bahrain.

Footage posted by the Fars news agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), appears to show a wave of rockets exploding into distant targets.

It claims the IRGC's drone and missile attack destroyed a US command and staff building in Bahrain's Sheikh Isa region and caused fuel tanks to explode.

The US has not yet commented on the reported attacks.

Earlier, smoke could be seen billowing from a US-run naval base in Bahrain.

The US State Department has ordered American citizens to immediately leave Bahrain, along with a dozen other countries in the Middle East.

Suranjana Tewari
Asia Business Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Asia and Europe stand to be the most impacted if it is confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz is closed or oil and gas infrastructure continues to be hit, according to industry analysts.

The supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) is of particular concern.

Qatar had earlier said it had suspended producing LNG after a reported drone attack from Iran on one of its facilities.

"Nothing can replace Qatari LNG," according to oil analyst Saul Kavonic, Senior Energy Analys at MST Financial.

"If the shutdown is prolonged, or worse the LNG infrastructure is damaged, it portends a larger gas market shock than in 2022 when Russia turned off pipeline gas to Europe."

A fifth of the world's LNG goes through the Strait of Hormuz, and Qatar transports 90% of its LNG exports through the narrow stretch that lies between Oman and Iran.

China, India, Taiwan and South Korea are among the countries that will be left most exposed in Asia, according to experts.

Image source, Getty Images

Conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson has urged the US to "get [Benjamin Netanyahu] under control".

"Sorry, it's not antisemitism. This is a head of state whose decisions are getting Americans killed and affecting the history of the world and the fortunes, but also the future of the United States," Carlson said in his latest podcast on Tucker Carlson Network.

The former Fox News host added: "The United States has to say to the government of Israel, 'You are not in charge.' ...No administration has paid a higher price for going along than the current administration."

Carlson, a Trump ally, had lobbied against military action and even met with Trump at the White House several times to dissuade him from an attack, according to the New York Times.

Several US leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, had defended Washington's actions as "pre-emptive" because they knew Israel was going to strike - though Israel's PM Netanyahu's remarks appeared to suggest otherwise.

"Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America," Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday night.

Osmond Chia
Business reporter

Global energy prices continue to climb on Monday as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to restrict supplies from the oil-producing region.

The Brent crude was up by around 1.9% at $79.25 (£59.11) a barrel, while US-traded oil was up by about 1.5%.

Global oil and gas prices have surged since the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran over the weekend.

Natural gas prices spiked on Monday after QatarEnergy, one of the world's biggest exporters, stopped production following "military attacks" on its facilities.

Daniele Palumbo and Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Verify

Image source, Vantor

New satellite images analysed by BBC Verify show damage to a major oil refinery in Saudi Arabia after reported drone strikes.

The images, captured today by Vantor, show fire and scorch marks around cooling towers in the central area of the oil refinery, located in the eastern city of Ras Tanura.

The area is occupied by a series of pipes connecting the different storage units to the central pier of the site that is normally able to fill four tankers simultaneously. The site has a productive capacity of 550,000 barrels per day.

The Aramco oil company said today that it had to temporarily shut down the refinery due to the strike.

Image source, Vantor

Trump told cable network NewsNation that the US would retaliate "soon" for the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh and the deaths of the US service members.

Six service members have been killed so far while 18 are injured, the US said on Monday night.

"[Trump] also told me he doesn’t think boots on the ground will be necessary," Kellie Meyer, a NewsNation political reporter, wrote on X.

More now from Netanyahu's interview with Fox News.

When asked by presenter Sean Hannity if Israel "dragged Donald Trump" into the conflict, the prime minister laughed.

"That’s ridiculous. Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America," Netanyahu responded.

"I know the cost of war," he went on to say. "But I know that sometimes war is necessary to protect us from the people who would destroy us."

Earlier US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US attacked Iran "pre-emptively" on Saturday because "we knew there was going to be Israeli action".

"We knew that if we didn't pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties," Rubio had said.

Osmond Chia
Business reporter

Amazon Web Services (AWS) says two of its data centres in the United Arab Emirates were "directly struck" by drone strikes in the region.

Another facility in Bahrain was hit by drone strikes nearby, said AWS on Monday in a list of alerts, external on its services in the region.

The company, which operates data centres and digital services worldwide, said the strikes have caused "structural damage" and "disrupted power" to its infrastructure.

Data centres store and process information for a wide range of businesses and internet services like websites and online applications in a region. Any damage to such facilities could be seriously disruptive.

AWS urged its customers in the Middle East to immediately backup their data and move their systems to AWS platforms in the US, Asia, Europe or elsewhere, given the "unpredictable" situation in the Middle East.

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended the Israeli military strikes on Iran, claiming Tehran's recent nuclear build-up would have been "immune within months" before Israel's intervention.

Despite the joint Israeli-US air raids targeting three nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June, Netanyahu says Iranian soldiers and technicians started building new sites, including "underground bunkers", where they could develop ballistic missiles and atomic bombs.

"If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future," Netanyahu told Fox News.

Israel has long opposed Iran's nuclear enrichment, warning it could be used to develop nuclear weapons, instead of being harnessed for peaceful purposes as the Iranian government claims.

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC's Tom Bateman questioned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Iranian reports that a school had been struck, which reportedly killed dozens of civilians, including children.

"The US would not deliberately target a school," Rubio repeatedly said.