Israel says it is carrying out a fresh wave of strikes in Iran, after the country earlier said it had carried out new attacks on Iran's "leadership compound" on Tuesday - BBC Verify assesses videos of the aftermath
Meanwhile President Trump Donald told reporters at the White House "everything's been knocked out in Iran"
He also criticised Prime Minister Starmer and the UK's initial response to US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying "this is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with"
The US says it has hit more than 2,000 targets in Iran since it began its military operations on Saturday. Tehran has retaliated with a wave of attacks across the region - here's why the US and Israel attacked Iran
The number of people killed in Iran so far has reached 787, the Red Crescent says, while Tehran residents tell BBC Persian they are worried about the availability of groceries
The UK will send helicopters with counter-drone capabilities and air defence destroyer HMS Dragon to Cyprus, after attacks on a British base there. France is planning to send a frigate and further air defences to the island too
Saudi Arabia's defence ministry has said that it intercepted two cruise missiles south of its capital, Riyadh, news agencies Reuters and AFP are reporting.
Separately, the official Saudi Press Agency is reporting that nine drones have been intercepted.
Saudi officials did not say where the missiles and drones were launched from.
Stock markets across Asia are seeing red this morning, but South Korea is having an especially tough time.
Its Kospi exchange was forced to halt trading for 20 minutes on Wednesday after stocks fell by more than 8%. Trading has since resumed but the Kospi is more than 10% lower.
The pause is part of an automatic mechanism called the circuit breaker, designed to prevent extreme market volatility if share prices fall drastically.
It was the first time the country's index circuit breaker was activated since August 2024.
A circuit breaker will kick in again if share prices fall by 15%.
Seoul is a big importer of Middle Eastern oil and its export-reliant economy is especially vulnerable to geopolitical shocks that can put shipments at risk.
Click here for details about today's trading.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, EPAIsrael's iron dome deence system is shown intercepting a projectile in this photo taken on Tuesday night
Israel's military says Iran has been retaliating to its fresh wave of strikes.
In the last few hours, Israel sounded alarms, warning of missiles launched from Iran.
Sirens blared and Israelis received mobile phone alerts instructing them to shelter and stay there until further notice.
Israel says it also monitored projectiles launched from Lebanon, where Israeli strikes have targeted Hezbollah.
The missiles and projectiles were intercepted and there were no immediate reports of casualties, Israel says.
James Kelly
Journalist, User Generated Content
Jonathan Ing, a British architect living with his family in Riyadh, says a "key question right now" is not how to celebrate his birthday tomorrow but whether to stay or go.
He says they are "staying put" for the moment but will "keep an eye on the situation".
"Life is continuing mostly as normal. I think with the attack on the US Embassy, which is 100m from my house, is the first real sign of concern in the public.
"Now it feels that the war is closer to our doorstep," he adds.
We have just been informed that the UK government has chartered a commercial flight out of Oman to help British nationals who want to leave the Middle East.
The flight is scheduled to leave Muscat on 4 March at 23:00 local time (19:00 GMT), and will take the most vulnerable people first.
The Foreign Office says British nationals who have registered their presence in the UAE and are currently in Oman should urgently fill out this form, external if they would like a seat on the flight.
It urged people not to make their way to the airport unless they have been called by the Foreign Office.
It adds that it will continue to work with airlines to find more routes for people to return to the UK.
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 damaged 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/ShutterstockA view of damaged buildings around Ferdowsi Square after an airstrike in central Tehran, Iran on 3 March
Image source, EPA/ShutterstockSmoke rises from destroyed buildings after Israeli strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon on 3 March
Image source, Getty ImagesIranian strikes hit Koye (Koysinjaq), northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on 3 March. The region hosts a major US consulate complex
Image source, ReutersCharred cars in Bnei Brak, Israel, following Iranian missile strikes on March 3
Image source, ReutersSmoke rises in the Fujairah oil industry zone following a fire caused by debris after interception of a drone by air defenses in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates on 3 March
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.
Image source, Getty ImagesAn 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, EPAA handout photograph from the Iranian foreign press department shows graves being prepared for the victims of the strike on a girls school in Minab
Image source, ReutersFunerals for some of the victims of the strike were held in Minab on Tuesday
Image source, ReutersFormer 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 ImagesThe US embassy in Riyadh was struck by two drones, the US and Saudi governments confirmed
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, ReutersThe 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, ReutersFor 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.
