Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib was "eliminated" in a strike overnight, Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

There has been no confirmation from Iran yet regarding Khatib's reported death.

Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorised the military to kill any other senior Iranian official being targeted without the need for additional approval.

Iran in return launched strikes toward Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries early Wednesday, with explosions heard in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia.

The attacks came hours after Iranian state media confirmed that Israel's military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as General Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij force known for its role in suppressing protests.

Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles carrying cluster warheads in what it said was retaliation for the assassination of Larijani, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which Larijani led as secretary, said Larijani's son and his deputy, Alireza Bayat, were also killed in an Israeli attack on Monday night. The targeted killings took place as the US-Israeli war on Iran shows no signs of de-escalation.

An Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighbourhoods early on Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become increasingly frequent in recent days, with or without prior warning. The attacks have hit far from the city's southern suburbs, for which the army issued evacuation notices early in the war with Hezbollah.

The US-Israeli war with Iran has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, more than 900 in Lebanon and 14 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The US military says 13 US service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.

Journalist with Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV killed

Al-Manar said that Mohammed Sherri, the head of its political programme, was killed along with his wife in an Israeli strike on central Beirut's Zokak Blatt neighbourhood. Al-Manar added that Sherri's children and grandchildren were wounded in a strike early Wednesday.

Sherri had been a presenter at the station for years and was well-known in the country.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut had killed 10 people. The ministry said on Wednesday that the airstrikes, which began around midnight, have also wounded 27.

It said 912 people have been killed and 2,221 wounded in Lebanon since the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2.

Iraq resumes exports of Kirkuk oil

Iraq said on Wednesday it has resumed oil exports from fields in the city of Kirkuk through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The development came after the Iraqi government reached a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration north of the country, the Iraqi oil ministry said.

The move avoids the Persian Gulf altogether. The ministry said it will initially export 250,000 barrels per day of crude oil.

The war in the Middle East and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severely impacted Iraq, whose economy depends overwhelmingly on oil.

Bahrain hit, sirens in Israel

Bahrain said Wednesday that Iran fired a missile and a drone at the island kingdom that hosts the US 5th Fleet.

Meanwhile, sirens sounded in parts of northern Israel warning of incoming missiles.