German foreign minister tells Iran to stop attacking third countries
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Friday called on Iran to stop launching "irresponsible" attacks on third countries but added that he saw no imminent threat to the NATO alliance.
Wadephul also announced additional humanitarian aid of nearly 100 million euros ($115.64 million) and said countries must ensure that displacements of people in the Middle East do not turn into a "a new wave of refugees".
"It is completely unjustified that Iran is attacking uninvolved states that did not participate in the attacks against Iran," he said.
Speaking alongside his Dutch counterpart, Wadephul also said Ukraine remained Germany's top security priority and called on Hungary to stop blocking aid to the country.
Trump again urges Iranians to take back their country
In brief remarks at the White House, US President Donald Trump again urged the Iranian people to "help take back your country." This time he promised the US would grant them "immunity" amid the war and ongoing dangers under the current Iranian regime.
"So you'll be perfectly safe with total immunity," Trump said, without giving any details about what that meant. "Or you'll face absolutely guaranteed death."
Cooper and Hegseth cautioned Iranians not to take to the streets while the conflict is still raging, however.
"It's common sense, don't go out and protest while bombs are dropping" Hegseth said.
"The best thing for them to do now is just to lay low," Cooper added.
In an interview with the news website Axios, Trump said he should be involved in choosing Iran's new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war. Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, being a front-runner to replace his father, calling him "a lightweight."
"We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran," Trump said.
Iran launches a new missile attack
Iranian state television announced a new missile attack, including the Islamic Republic firing off its larger Khorramshahr-4 missiles.
Lebanon's prime minister calls for international help
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is calling on the international community to help Lebanon amid the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war. "A humanitarian disaster is looming" because of huge displacements of people, Salam said.
Salam criticized both Israel and Hezbollah over the current crisis saying that the Lebanese state and people "did not choose this war."
Speaking to heads of diplomatic missions in Beirut, Salam appealed to the friends of Lebanon to support "us in this endeavor" and called on the international community to help stop Israel's attacks and spare the country's infrastructure.
Qatar condemns Iranian attack on Bahrain
Qatar has denounced an Iranian attack on Bahrain that targeted buildings housing elements of its forces there. Doha says the attack targeted the unified military command of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc in the region.
It says none of the Qatari sailors were hurt and called the assault "a direct threat to its security and stability and the security of the region."
People gather at Iranian Embassy in Delhi
A large number of people gathered at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi to sign the condolence book and express sympathy with the people of Iran following the martyrdom of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
UN official: 100,000 Lebanese in shelters after 'unprecedented' Israeli warnings
About 100,000 people have fled to shelters in Lebanon and the number of displaced is expected to rapidly increase following "unprecedented" Israeli warnings ordering people out of large parts of the country, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.
With war raging between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents out of Beirut's southern suburbs, including areas controlled by the Iran-backed group, as well as parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley, after ordering people out of a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday.
"What we saw in the last couple of days is, I would say ... unprecedented in terms of the scale here in Lebanon of the warnings, the displacement orders, and the reaction, the panic also, that this has all created," Imran Riza, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters.
"At the moment, there are about 100,000 people that are, as of this morning, in some 477 collective shelters. There are some 57 shelters that still have some space, but basically the capacity is being reached very, very quickly," Riza said.
Noting the panic and gridlock caused by the Israeli displacement orders, Riza said: "We had people moving all over the place and not knowing where to go to. So yes, I think we're going to have an increased number quite quickly," he said.
He noted that more than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75-80% of whom were not in shelters. "This time again, the majority will not be in shelters probably," he said.
Iran FM thanks Sri Lanka for helping rescue sailors after US attack on ship
Iran FM thanks Sri Lanka for helping rescue sailors after US attack on ship: Foreign ministry
Blanket evacuation orders in Lebanon raise international law concerns, says UN human rights chief
Large scale evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs raise serious concerns under international law, the UN human rights chief said on Friday.
"These blanket, massive displacement orders we are talking here about hundreds and thousands of people," said United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk.
"This raises serious concern under international humanitarian law, and in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer," he added.
Air defense activated in parts of Mashhad in northeast Iran
Air defense activated in parts of Mashhad in northeast Iran: Nour News
Qatar warns war will force Gulf to stop energy exports within weeks, energy minister tells FT
Qatar's energy minister Saad al-Kaabi said that even if the war ended immediately it would take Qatar "weeks to months" to return to a normal cycle of deliveries, he told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.
Kremlin says the war in Iran has fuelled demand for Russian energy
The Kremlin said on Friday that the war in Iran had fuelled demand for Russian energy products, noting that buyers like China and India were guided by their national interests.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia has been and remained a reliable supplier of oil and gas, both via pipelines and in liquefied form.
India's trade minister in talks with shipping ministry, companies to tackle stuck cargoes
Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday he was holding talks with the shipping ministry and companies in the sector to free up cargoes marooned by the disruption of key global trade routes as conflict grows in the Middle East.
India will look at ways to ease the burden on exporters, such as the high cost of insurance and cargo shipments, he added.
Israel launches 'broad-scale' attack on Tehran; Iran says targets heart of Tel Aviv
Israel carried out heavy air strikes on Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut and started a "broad-scale" wave of attacks against infrastructure in Tehran on Friday, while Iran said it targeted the heart of Tel Aviv with missiles.
Explosions and flashes lit up the night sky over Beirut's southern suburbs, Reuters footage showed. The Israeli military said it had carried out 26 waves of strikes overnight in the southern suburbs, saying targets included Iran-backed Hezbollah militia command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Kheibar missiles were fired toward Tel Aviv on Friday as part of the 21st wave of its “Operation True Promise 4". In a statement, the IRGC said the wave began with a combined missile and drone operation targeting sites in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Overnight, Iranian drones attacked the U.S. Al Udied airbase in Qatar, the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East, Qatari officials said. There were no reported casualties.
The IRGC said Iranian forces had targeted the Ramat David air base and a radar site in Israel, the Al-Adiri camp in Kuwait where U.S. forces are stationed, and a drone attack on a base hosting U.S. troops in Erbil, Iraq.
A Guards spokesperson said new initiatives and weapons would soon be deployed to confront Israeli and U.S. aggression, without giving details.
The seven-day war has now seen Iran target Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and spread to the Indian Ocean where a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian naval ship near Sri Lanka.
"This was an 'existential war' for Iran, leaving us with no choice but to respond wherever American attacks originate from,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said at the Raisina Dialogues conference in New Delhi on Friday.
Hezbollah, in a message published in Hebrew on its Telegram channel early on Friday, warned Israelis to leave towns within 5 km (3 miles) of the border.
"Your military's aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged," Hezbollah said.
At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the fighting began a week ago, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people have been killed and another 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks this week. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. There have been no reported fatalities in Israel as a result of Hezbollah attacks.
Azerbaijan was preparing unspecified retaliatory measures on Thursday after it said four Iranian drones crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave. Iran, which has a significant Azeri minority, denied it targeted its neighbour.
UK arrests four people on suspicion of Iran-related spying of Jewish sites
British police arrested four people on suspicion of Iran-related spying on Friday, in relation to an investigation into surveillance of locations linked to Jewish communities.
Europe must ramp up defence production amid Iran crisis, EU's Kubilius says
The war in the Middle East has made it even more urgent for Europe to step up production of air defence and anti-ballistic missiles, EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Friday.
"With the Iranian crisis ... it has become very clear that Europe must ramp up production of air-defence and anti-ballistic missiles," he said during a joint news conference with Polish Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz.
"The Americans will not be able to supply enough - for Gulf countries, for their own forces, and for Ukraine," he added.
Israeli airstrikes pound Beirut suburb, Hezbollah warns Israelis
Israel carried out heavy airstrikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut overnight after ordering its residents to leave, while the Iran-backed group warned Israelis to leave towns and villages at the frontier.
Explosions and flashes lit up the night sky over the Beirut southern suburbs, Reuters footage showed. The Israeli military said it had carried out 26 waves of strikes overnight in the southern suburbs, saying targets included Hezbollah's command centres and weapons storage facilities.
On Thursday, an Israeli military spokesperson told residents of the southern suburbs to move east and north, posting a map showing four large districts of the capital he said they must leave, including areas adjacent to Beirut airport.
Hezbollah, in a message published in Hebrew on its Telegram channel early on Friday, warned Israelis to leave towns within 5 km (3 miles) of the border.
"Your military's aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged," Hezbollah said.
During fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from towns in the border area but many have since returned. Israeli officials have previously said there are no plans to remove them for now.
Lebanon was pulled into the war in the Middle East on Monday, when Hezbollah opened fire, igniting a new Israeli offensive, with airstrikes focused on Beirut's southern suburbs and on southern and eastern Lebanon.
Israel has also ordered Lebanese to leave large areas of southern and eastern Lebanon.
The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people have been killed and another 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks this week. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
There have been no reported fatalities in Israel as a result of Hezbollah attacks.
Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group established by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, was badly weakened by Israel during the 2024 war.
Maersk suspends two shipping services due to Middle East crisis
Maersk will temporarily suspend its FM1 service, connecting the Far East to the Middle East, and its ME11 service, connecting the Middle East to Europe, the shipping group said in a statement on Friday.
"This decision has been taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our personnel and vessels while minimizing operational disruption across our wider network," Maersk said in an advisory to customers.
52 French ships stuck in the Gulf amid Iran conflict, minister says
Around 50 French ships are currently blocked in the Persian Gulf and another eight in the Red Sea, France's Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on Friday, as Paris seeks support to build a coalition of countries to secure shipping traffic in the region.
"There are around fifty ships - 52 to be precise - in the Persian Gulf and eight in the Red Sea, and we are also in permanent contact with the crews, as there are French sailors aboard a number of these vessels," Tabarot told French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1.
US CENTCOM says rumours of fighter jet downed over Basra are ‘not true’
Rumors are circulating on social media of a U.S. fighter jet shot down over Basra. These are baseless and NOT TRUE: US Centcom
