Hundreds line streets for funerals of students and staff killed in strike on Iranian school
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An Israeli F-35 fighter jet downed an Iranian warplane over Tehran, Israel’s military has said, as fresh airstrikes pound Tehran, Kuwait and Beirut in in the fifth day of an expanding conflict.
The military said it launched a “broad wave” of strikes in Tehran early on Wednesday, which it said targeted “the Iranian terror regime’s launch sites, aerial defence systems and additional infrastructure”.
Thick columns of smoke rose over Beirut, after new Israeli strikes on Lebanon which reduced large buildings in the Haret Hreik to piles of rubble.
The strikes came hours after reports that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had carried out a fresh barrage of missile and drone strikes on Israel.
The US Central Command said American and Israeli forces had struck over 1,700 targets in Iran since the start of the war and “severely degraded” Iranian air defences.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, named the first four American personnel killed in the widening conflict with Iran.
Capt Cody A Khork, 35, Sgt 1st Class Noah L Tietjens, 42, Sgt 1st Class Nicole M Amor, 39, and Sgt Declan J Coady, 20, were identified on Tuesday, two days after they were killed in a drone attack on Kuwait.
Trump-Iran latest: Key Points
Moscow warns that Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant under threat of attack
Moscow has warned that Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is under threat from US-Israeli air strikes, as it claimed that explosions could be heard just kilometres away from its perimeter.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry, told a news briefing in Moscow that the bombing campaign was causing serious obstacles to the UN nuclear watchdog’s effort to monitor the situation.
Moscow hoped that the watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – would provide an objective assessment of the nuclear risks posed by the US-Israeli strikes, she said.
Alex Croft4 March 2026 11:31
Alex Croft4 March 2026 11:25
Syria closes border crossing with Lebanon after warning of Israeli strike
The Syrian land and sea ports authority has closed its border crossing with Lebanon for departures after receiving it received a warning from Israel that Israeli forces may target the crossing.
Israel has continued its attacks on Lebanon, which began on Monday and have killed dozens of people.
Arrivals remain open as long as Syrians are fleeing from Lebanon, according to the media official at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing.
Alex Croft4 March 2026 11:11
In pictures: Iranians wounded after Israeli attacks flatten entire blocks
At least 787 people have been killed in Iran (Parspix/ABACA/Shutterstock )At least 787 people have been killed in Iran (Parspix/ABACA/Shutterstock)(Parspix/ABACA/Shutterstock)Israel and Iran launched fresh airstrikes on Wednesday (Parspix/ABACA/Shutterstock)
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:56
UN ‘deeply disturbed’ by child deaths after 160 Iranians killed in school bombing
A committee of UN experts has said it is “deeply disturbed” by the deaths of children amid escalating violence across the Middle East, particularly the bombing of a girls school in Iran.
The Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab in southern Iran was hit on Saturday, the first day of US and Israeli attacks against the country.
It killed 160 children, UN experts stated.
A coffin is carried during the funeral of mostly children killed in what Iranian officials said was an Israeli-U.S. strike Feb. 28 at a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, Tuesday, March 3
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:40
Spain shares ‘surprise’ with Germany after Merz appears to side with Trump in dispute
Spain has shared its “surprise” at Germany after chancellor Friedrich Merz appeared to support Donald Trump’s threats to cut trade with Spain, foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
“I cannot imagine Chancellors (Angela) Merkel or (Olaf) Scholz making such remarks,” Albares said in a TV interview with state broadcaster TVE.
Merz had said on Tuesday that Spain needed “convincing” to agree to Nato’s higher defence spending target of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product after Trump floated imposing a trade embargo on Spain over its position in the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:28
Who is Iran’s new supreme leader? Son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expected to take over father’s role
Mojtaba Khamenei is the leading candidate to replace his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader, according to reports.
Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, was killed in a US-Israeli strike on his personal compound on Saturday, setting off a wave of chaos in the Gulf. His clerical leadership of the Islamic Republic had lasted over 37 years.
His wife Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh and Mojtaba Khamenei’s wife Zahra Adel were also killed in the attacks, according to Iran.
The younger Khamenei, 56, is reported to have been selected as the primary candidate for supreme leader after two meetings of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Iranian officials told the New York Times.
Our foreign news journalist Maira Butt brings the report:
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:18
Iran close to choosing new supreme leader, says official
Iran is close to choosing a new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the group tasked with choosing the new leader, told state TV on Wednesday.
“The Supreme Leader will be identified in the closest opportunity, we are close to a conclusion, however the situation in the country is a war situation,” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state TV.
Mojtaba Khamanei, the son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader, is viewed as the most likely candidate.
Two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday that Khamanei has survived the assault on the country by US and Israeli air strikes so far.
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:13
Adidas store bombed in the Middle East, CEO says
An Adidas store in the Middle East has been bombed, the CEO of the German sportswear company said on Wednesday at a press conference.
“We have people currently sitting in shelters,” chief executive Bjorn Gulden said.
It is unclear where the attack was and which country was likely to have fired the projectile.
Alex Croft4 March 2026 10:06
In pictures: Demolition after Israeli strikes on Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighbourhood
Beirut suffered further Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)Dozens of people have been killed in Lebanon (AFP via Getty Images)Buildings were left in rubble by the huge attack (AFP via Getty Images)The death toll is expected to rise on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)
Alex Croft4 March 2026 09:52
