LIVE: Tehran Refinery Burned, US Embassy Baghdad Hit
The military wing noted that the offensive utilised sophisticated systems capable of engaging various high-priority objectives
The area witnessed intense clashes and airstrikes overnight after an Israeli force landed there and clashed with local gunmen.
The Lebanese army said the dead included three Lebanese troops.
The Israeli force was looking for information about Israeli navigator Ron Arad who went missing after his fighter jet crashed in Lebanon 40 years ago.
The Israeli military said it did not find Arad’s remains.
What to know:
- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has initiated the 23rd phase of “Operation True Promise 4,” deploying a new generation of missile technology against American regional bases and targets within the occupied territories, Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported on Friday.
- Israel's military said more than 80 fighter jets completed a wave of strikes on Iranian military sites, missile launchers and other targets in Tehran and central Iran on Saturday.
- Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut and Tehran on Friday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries that host U.S. forces.
- Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter. It’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war.
- U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran in a social media post calling for its “unconditional surrender.”
- Evidence suggests the deadly blast at an Iranian elementary school was likely a U.S. airstrike. The U.S. has not accepted responsibility but said it was investigating the matter.
- The death toll continues to rise. At least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel have been killed, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
- New airstrikes have hit Tehran, Iran’s capital, on Saturday afternoon as Iran’s president earlier today said that a demand by the United States for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should take to their grave."
- President Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a prerecorded address aired by state television.
- He also apologized for Iran’s attacks on regional countries, saying that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks. He blamed the killing of the country's supreme leader and other top officials for what sounded like a loss of command and control in the armed forces in recent days.
Live Updates
- 8 March 2026 2:13 AM IST
Oil refinery fire lights up night sky in Tehran
Massive plumes of flames lit up the sky in Tehran on Saturday night after the Iranian state news agency said that an oil storage facility was targeted in latest round of strikes. AP video showed the horizon glowing, then pillars of flame and billowing smoke.
It is among the first times a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the targets of the latest strike, but said Israel had recently launched another round of strikes in Tehran. Iran state media in response threatened to hit oil refineries in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
- 8 March 2026 1:04 AM IST
UAE authorities say debris killed one person
The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai media office said late Saturday that debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle in the Barsha area and killed an “Asian driver.”
This brings the number of people killed in the UAE since the war began to four. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.
- 8 March 2026 1:03 AM IST
Iraqi officials report strike on US embassy
Residents of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region, heard explosions and the sound of air defenses intercepting incoming missiles or drones Saturday evening.
Three Iraqi security officials said that a missile had landed on the helicopter landing pad in U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. There were no reports of casualties.
- 8 March 2026 12:51 AM IST
UAE President visits injured Indian national after missile attack
#WestAsiaWar | UAE President visits injured Indian national after missile attack
— Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) March 7, 2026
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited an injured Indian national in hospital, placing his hand on the patient's head in a gesture of comfort. The visit followed a missile and… pic.twitter.com/3MtwOrKHUu - 8 March 2026 12:50 AM IST
Spain evacuates its embassy in Tehran
Spain has evacuated its embassy in Iran, the country’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares posted on X Sunday evening.
“The ambassador and essential personnel who had stayed in Tehran have just crossed the border with Azerbaijan and are safe,” Albares wrote.
The rest of Spanish embassies in the region are still functioning and answering emergency calls, he added.
“The safety of our citizens and of the Spanish foreign service is my priority,” Albares wrote.
- 7 March 2026 11:47 PM IST
UAE authorities report minor damage to Dubai tower
The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Media office said Saturday that falling shrapnel from interception of projectiles from Iran caused a minor damage to the facade of a tower in Dubai Marina, an area with many luxury high rises. There were no injuries reported.
Sirens have sounded several times across the UAE on Saturday.
- 7 March 2026 9:26 PM IST
UAE Ministry of Defence said air defences are responding to missile and drone threats from Iran. The ministry said interception systems caused the loud sounds heard and urged the public to follow safety instructions.
- 7 March 2026 9:22 PM IST
Kuwait to reduce oil production as ‘precautionary’ step due to war
Kuwait says it is reducing oil production as a “precautionary” measure due to the war in the Middle East.
The Kuwait Petroleum Cooperation blamed Iran’s attacks on the country as well as threats to the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes.
The Kuwaiti statement did not say how much it was reducing output, but Saturday’s announcement threatened to further jolt global energy markets.
- 7 March 2026 9:21 PM IST
Israel targets Tehran airport it says was used for militant groups
The Israeli military said Saturday that it struck a Tehran airport used to help transport weapons to militant groups that Iran supported across the Middle East.
The military said the Mehrabad Airport was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel said it destroyed 16 aircrafts that were used for transporting weapons as part of a broad wave of strikes against Tehran overnight. The strike also destroyed several Iranian fighter jets.
There was no immediate acknowledgement of the strike on Iran’s state media.
- 7 March 2026 8:45 PM IST
Loud explosions heard in Bahrain's Manama: AFP journalist
Loud explosions were heard Saturday in Bahrain's capital Manama, two AFP journalists reported, as Iran continued its retaliatory strkes across the Gulf.
One of the journalists said they heard at least five blasts in the city.
