Middle East crisis live: US submarine sank Iranian warship, Hegseth says; Israel launches fresh strikes on Tehran

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is currently holding a press briefing for reporters, and in her opening remarks, she praised President Donald Trump and touted the success of Operation Epic Fury.

“President Trump is holding these monsters accountable and permanently extinguishing their nuclear ambitions,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House. “Future generations of Americans will look to this moment as the moment where the specter of a nuclear armed Iran ended at the beginning of Operation Epic Fury launched last weekend.”

Leavitt also repeated comments by the defense secretary just hours ago that the US has significantly degraded the Iranian regime’s navy.

“So far, we have destroyed more than 20 Iranian ships, including their top submarine, last night using a torpedo,” she said. “It’s safe to say that thus far, operation, epic fury has been a resounding success.”

In a recent statement, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said “we are well on our way to achieving the objectives of #EpicFury”.

“Destroy their missile launchers” he said. “Destroy their missile factories. Destroy their Navy. So they can never hide behind these things to develop a nuclear weapon.”

US Central Command has said that US forces have “struck or sunk to the bottom of the ocean” more than 20 Iranian ships.

“Last night, CENTCOM added a Soleimani-class warship to the list,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

In another statement on Wednesday, US Central Command said that “US forces continue to aggressively hunt and destroy Iranian missile launchers with precision”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that the death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon has risen to 72 people, the Associated Press is reporting.

Lebanese officials added that 437 people have been wounded and more than 83,000 people have been displaced.

Since 28 February, more than 17,500 American citizens have returned to the United States from the Middle East, according to the US assistant secretary of state for global public affairs.

In a statement on Wednesday, the assistant secretary, Dylan Johnson, also said that more than 8,500 American citizens returned to the US on Tuesday.

“Many more Americans have left the Middle East to other countries in Europe and Asia, and others have safely departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the US,” he said. “Through the state department 24/7 taskforce, we have assisted nearly 6,500 Americans abroad, including offering security guidance and travel assistance.”

He added: “The US state department will continue to actively assist any American citizen abroad, who wishes to depart the Middle East, to do so.”

The US embassy in Baghdad has issued a statement urging US citizens to leave Iraq “as soon as circumstances permit and to remain at their places of residence until conditions are safe for departure”.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US embassy in Baghdad added: “Please ensure you have an adequate stockpile of food, water, medications, and other essential supplies.”

Five ships in the Arabian Gulf have been targeted in the last 24 hours, according to the UK maritime trade operation which provides verified security alerts to the shipping industry.

Two oil tankers off Fujairah reported unknown projectiles with slight damage to a funnel and steel plating with another container shop passing through the straits of Hormuz was also hit.

Two others reported explosions close to the ship, one off Oman and the other west of Dubai.

Today so far

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, marking the first US attack on Iranian forces outside of the Middle East. More than 80 people were killed.

In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies”. Hegseth said the US is able to continue the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to”, saying Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did”.

Hegseth also said that the leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes.

Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed, and that the US has “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence”.

Hegseth said that the US is investigating the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed a reported 168 people on Saturday, but provided no further detail. “All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.

The US and Israel’s airstrikes against Iran continued, with the Israeli military announcing a “broad wave of strikes” against Tehran’s security forces. In turn, Iran upped its retaliatory strikes against Israel and US targets across the region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announcing Iranian attacks today.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes on two towns south of Beirut killed six people and wounded eight. Aramoun and Saadiyat are both towns outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds. Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an “urgent warning” to residents of a large swathe of southern Lebanon urging them to evacuate to the north of the Litani River. At least 30,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, according to the UN, after heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Clerics in Iran said they were close to choosing a successor to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state media. It has been widely suggested that his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, could replace him.

The funeral ceremony for Khamenei that was supposed to take place on Wednesday night in Tehran has been postponed. State media, citing officials, reported that the funeral was delayed to allow time for expanded infrastructure because of “overwhelming demand”. No timeframe was given as to when the funeral would take place.

The death toll in Iran has reached 1,045, according to Iranian officials. Iran’s foundation of martyrs and veteran affairs said the death toll represented the number of bodies that had been identified and prepared for burial, state media reported.

Cost of living fears rise in UK as oil and gas prices spike with Iran conflict

Oil and gas prices have spiked worldwide after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, Qatar paused some of its LNG production and energy infrastructure in the Gulf remains at risk of drone strikes.

This has sparked cost of living fears, including in the UK where energy bills are particularly at risk from international gas prices, as we rely so much on imported gas to heat our homes.

UK energy secretary Ed Miliband has in recent days met key figures including Qatari and Saudi energy ministers and the Energy Agency.

He just said in a statement that the conflict means the UK needs to reduce its dependence on oil and gas markets. Some commentators and other political figures including Donald Trump have in recent days said that the potential fossil fuel crisis means Miliband’s decision to ban new exploration licences in the North Sea is a folly. But he has today doubled down on his choices.

Miliband said: “Conflict in the Middle East is yet another reminder that the only route to energy security and sovereignty for the UK is to get off our dependence on fossil fuel markets, whose prices we do not control, and onto clean homegrown power we do.

“The Tories and Reform have opposed our clean energy mission at every turn. They have learned nothing from their own failures during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which landed us with the biggest cost of living crisis in generations due to our exposure to fossil fuels.”

He said the North Sea “will continue to play an important role in our energy mix for decades to come, but new exploration licenses won’t take a penny off bills”.

“This Labour government has secured record investment in new nuclear and renewables, after the Conservatives failed to build the clean energy we need,” Miliband said. “Our opponents want to ‘wage war’ on the very thing that would bring down bills, costing billions in investment.”

He continued: “Global events show how foolish and dangerous their strategy is – making the UK more dependent on markets we don’t control.”

Was it legal for the US to sink an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean?

Cate Brown

The US strike on an Iranian warship, which killed more than 80 crew members, is illegal, according to Wes Bryant, a former U.S. Air Force Special Operations targeting expert and former chief of civilian harm assessments at the Pentagon.

The Iris Dena, a 1.5 ton warship bearing Iranian missiles, was reportedly transiting home after participating in training exercises hosted by the Indian navy at the time of the strike, according to Indian press. India had convened naval assets from 74 countries for a March exercise.

“Was that warship actively posing a threat or participating in hostiles?” asked Bryant. “You cannot say that this warship was an imminent threat to anyone. By targeting it, is the Trump administration saying that the imminent threat is all of Iran’s government and military?”

“If so, that’s an incredibly dangerous example of military overreach,” Bryant said.

Bigger picture, lawyers have said that the US operations against Iran are patently illegal, and several have raised concerns about the broader conflict that US aggression has kicked off.

“I’m holding Trump responsible, not just for US military strikes, but for the foreseeable consequences of launching these attacks,” said Brian Finucane, a former state department lawyer. “It was not only foreseeable, but it was also widely predicted that Iran would respond… That’s why aggression is a crime under international law. ”

From petrol to groceries: how Middle East crisis is driving up prices

The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted global supply chains and triggered price rises across a range of categories, prompting accusations of price gouging and warnings of worse to come if the conflict persists.

Here we take a look at the impact so far.

Iranian president tells neighbouring countries that Iran respects their sovereignty

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, posted a message on X to the leaders of Iran’s neighbouring countries that Iran respects their countries’ sovereignties.

Pezeshkian said that Iran had strived to avoid war but the attack from the US and Israel left them no choice but to defend themselves.

Iran’s neighbouring countries have spent the conflict intercepting missiles and drones, with a few getting past their air defences and hitting targets. The United Arab Emirates said it has been exposed to more than 1,000 attacks Iran since the conflict began, with a drone causing a small fire near the US embassy in Dubai yesterday. Three people have been killed.

The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, as well as a port in Oman.

Here are some images of the conflict in the Middle East coming out over the wires: