US-Israel strikes rage across Iran as supreme leader succession looms

• Death toll rises to 1,332 in Iran, with casualties across Gulf, Israel, and US forces

• President Trump warns next Iranian supreme leader would not last long without his approval

• Iranian FM demands apology from US president, saying Iranian people, not Donald Trump, will elect their new leader

• Iranian drone attacks hit Bahrain desalination plant; Iran vows retaliation over Gulf targets

• Israel claims destruction of IRGC HQ and fuel depots, kills three Quds Force commanders in Beirut

• Iran Red Crescent Society reports 65 schools, 32 medical facilities damaged amid nearly 10,000 civilian sites hit

• Gulf countries strengthen defenses; King Abdullah II of Jordan visits military HQ, vows full preparedness

 TEHRAN/WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV: The US and Israel continued their strikes on Iran on Sunday, targeting oil storage depots and refining facilities, as US President Donald Trump warned that the next Iranian supreme leader would not last long without his approval. Tehran, meanwhile, is preparing to reveal the successor to the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The war has now entered its ninth day, with the death toll in Iran rising to 1,332. Across the Gulf, at least 11 civilians have been killed, while 11 were killed in Israel and six US soldiers have died to date.

Iranian Foreign Minister stated that the Iranian people, not Donald Trump, will elect their new leader, and demanded an apology from the US president for initiating the conflict, AFP reported.

Iranian and Gulf Targets Hit

An Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant in Bahrain, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, following a US strike on a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran. Tehran called the US strike a “precedent” in the conflict.

#الدفاع_المدني : سقوط مقذوف عسكري على موقع سكني نتج عنه حالتا وفاة وإصابة (12) مقيمًا بمحافظة الخرج. pic.twitter.com/8836gKxohx

— الدفاع المدني السعودي (@SaudiDCD) March 8, 2026

The clerical body tasked with selecting Iran’s next supreme leader has reportedly reached a majority consensus, a member confirmed.

Gulf states — Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — reported additional Iranian strikes, after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pledged to halt attacks on Gulf nations if no aggression originates from their territories.

In Lebanon, an Israeli air raid on a hotel in Beirut killed at least four people.

Bahrain Condemns Iranian Attacks at UN

Bahrain condemned the Iranian attacks at a UN Security Council briefing. Ambassador Jamal Fares Al Ruwaie called the strikes “unjustified and heinous,” warning they threaten regional security and energy infrastructure, including the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel Vows Prolonged Offensive

An Israeli army spokesman, Effie Defrin, said operations against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) could continue “for a long time.”

He confirmed Israel struck fuel storage facilities near Tehran and claimed it destroyed Iran’s military headquarters completely. Families of IRGC personnel were warned to leave Lebanon.

“These attacks will target every individual and personnel of the IRGC. They have no place to hide in Iran, Lebanon, or anywhere,” he said.

Macron Urges Ceasefire

 French President Emmanuel Macron called Masoud Pezeshkian, urging Iran to immediately cease strikes and guarantee freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Macron stressed the safety and repatriation of a French couple within the French Embassy was a top priority, while reiterating concerns over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs and “destabilising activities” in the region.

Civilian Sites Targeted

Pirhoussein Koulivand, head of the Iran Red Crescent Society, reported 65 schools and 32 medical facilities struck since the war began, among nearly 10,000 civilian sites damaged.

The Israeli military claimed it hit more than 3,400 targets in Iran. US CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins denied targeting civilians, accusing Iran of deliberately putting civilians at risk.

 Heavy Losses at Sea

The Iranian army said 104 personnel were killed and 32 wounded in a US attack on the frigate Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka last week. The attack occurred approximately 19 nautical miles from Galle, widening Washington’s campaign against Iran’s navy.

 IRGC Condemns Attacks

A spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp described the strikes as “criminal aggression” by the US and Israel, targeting civilians and energy infrastructure, while warning Islamic countries to intervene to prevent further escalation.

Israel Kills Quds Force Commanders

Israel reported killing five people in a Beirut hotel raid, including three commanders of the IRGC Quds Force: Majid Hassini, Ali Reza Bi-Azar, and Ahmad Rasouli, plus an intelligence operative and a Hezbollah representative. Israel described the strikes as a “necessary blow to the Iranian presence in Lebanon”.

 Gulf States and Jordan on High Alert

Gulf countries, including Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, have reinforced defenses and condemned Iranian attacks as violations of sovereignty, according to Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council statements.

King Abdullah II of Jordan visited the Jordanian Armed Forces’ General Command, affirming readiness to defend the country. He praised military and security agencies for protecting airspace and borders, amid Iranian missile and drone activity.

US, Israel hit five oil sites in and near Tehran: official

The US and Israel hit five oil facilities with overnight strikes in and near the Iranian capital that killed four people, an official told state TV on Sunday.

“Last night, four oil depots and a petroleum products transport center in Tehran and the Alborz were attacked by enemy aircraft,” the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, Keramat Veyskarami, told state TV.

🇬🇧 Tehran, the gates of hell had opened. 🇬🇧

That is how witnesses across the Iranian capital described the night the sky turned orange and flames tore across the skyline after a wave of devastating airstrikes targeted major oil infrastructure.

Videos flooding social media show… pic.twitter.com/47VMCQLdz3

— Marx Anthony (@10MarXmen) March 8, 2026

“Four of our personnel, including two oil tanker drivers, were killed in the incident,” he added, saying facilities “were damaged” but the “fire was brought under control.”

Smoke from fires overnight hung over the capital, casting a dark haze across the city as morning broke.

Residents reported the smell of burning lingered in the air.

Veyskarami said Iran’s oil depots have “sufficient gasoline reserves.”

Israel’s military confirmed that it hit the fuel storage facilities in Tehran.

Associated Press video showed the horizon glowing against the night sky above Tehran. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.

State media blamed “an attack from the US and the Zionist regime” at the facility that supplies the capital and neighboring provinces in the north.

Trump says new Iran leader won’t last long

US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Iran’s next supreme leader would not last long without his approval, as Tehran prepared to reveal the successor to the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Nine days after US-Israeli strikes on his compound killed Khamenei and plunged the Middle East into war, Iran’s Assembly of Experts met privately and chose their next leader, members of the body said.

The clerics did not say who had been selected, only that a name would be announced soon. Some suggested Khamenei’s 56-year old son Mojtaba Khamenei would succeed his father.

Trump had previously demanded a say in the appointment and dismissed the younger Khamenei as an unacceptable “lightweight.”

“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” Trump told ABC News on Sunday, referring to Iran’s next leader. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long.”

But Tehran’s top diplomat said earlier in the day that the decision was Iran’s alone, adding it would “allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs.”

 Iran FM says Iranians, not Trump, will elect new leader

Iran’s foreign minister has said that the Iranian people, not Donald Trump, will elect their new leader and demanded that the US president apologise for starting the war with Iran, AFP reports.

“We allow nobody to interfere in our domestic affairs. This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC‘s ‘Meet the Press’, after Trump on Thursday asserted he should have a role in picking Iran’s next supreme leader.

Araghchi also said Trump “should apologise to people of the region and the Iranian people for the killings and destruction they have done against us”.

Israel’s military has warned any successor that “we will not hesitate to target you.”

Israel military says struck Iran Guards ‘space force’ HQ

The Israeli military has claimed it has struck what it described as the “space force headquarters” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Tehran, AFP reported.

“As part of the strikes, the IDF targeted and dismantled the Iranian terror regime’s IRGC Space Force headquarters,” the military said.

“The headquarters served as a reception, transmission and research centre for the Iranian Space Agency, which is affiliated with the regime’s military,” it said.

The military said the site included research facilities as well as the command-and-control centre for the “Khayyam” satellite, which was used to “monitor the State of Israel and its residents”.

In August 2022, Russia launched the satellite on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Iran’s space agency said at the time that the device was constructed by Russia under Iranian supervision.

The US said that the Khayyam satellite would give Iran “significant spying capabilities”.

Iran’s space agency rejected that, saying that the purpose of Khayyam was to “monitor the country’s borders”, and help with the management of natural resources and agriculture.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had also targeted other sites in Tehran, including around 50 bunkers that stored ammunition and a compound belonging to the Guards’ ground forces.

 Egypt FM ‘rejects’ attacks on Gulf countries, urges dialogue

Egyptian FM Badr Abdelatty has participated in the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Council of the League of Arab States in a session chaired by the UAE.

Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates, participated in the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Council of the League of Arab States.https://t.co/u67cnrMTaN pic.twitter.com/5UHMXvxGaV

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (@MFAEgOfficial) March 8, 2026

According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Abdelatty “expressed full solidarity” with the Gulf States, Jordan and Iraq in the face of “Iranian aggression”.

He stressed the “categorical condemnation and complete rejection of these attacks and any pretexts to justify them”, a ministry statement said.

The Egyptian FM stressed the need to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy to reduce military escalation and tension, warning of the seriousness of the situation and the need to avoid the region sliding into further escalation and widespread chaos.

He also noted the “importance of activating the concept of Arab national security to preserve the security of Arab countries and protect their sovereignty” and pointed to the need to activate frameworks to effectively deal with existing threats, including the formation of a joint Arab force.

 FM Araghchi says Iran’s missiles cannot reach US soil

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that its missiles cannot reach the United States as he defended strikes that have hit Gulf neighbours during the war in the Middle East, AFP reports.

“It is Americans who started this war against us, attacking us, and we are defending ourselves. So it is obvious that our missiles cannot reach the US soil,” Araghchi told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’.

“What we can do is to attack American bases and American installations around us, which are unfortunately in the soil of our, you know, neighbouring countries.”

 - Air ‘unbreathable’ -

Israel’s reach was underlined by two new operations overnight — strikes against fuel dumps in and around Tehran, and an attack on a hotel in the heart of Lebanon’s capital Beirut that targeted suspected Iranian commanders.

Warplanes hit five oil facilities around the Iranian capital, killing at least four people, according to a state oil executive, and blanketing the city in acrid smoke.

Tehran’s governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been “temporarily interrupted” in the capital.

A dark haze hung over the city of 10 million people, blocking out the sun, while the smell of burning fuel lingered in the air.

Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged citizens to stay indoors, but many windows were blown out by the force of the blasts.

“The blaze has been burning for more than 12 hours, the air has become unbreathable. I can’t even go out to do the daily shopping,” said a 35-year-old from Tehran.

“At first, I supported this war. After Khamenei’s death, I celebrated with my friends: we drank wine and we danced.

“But since yesterday... people say there’s not even any gasoline left at the gas stations,” she said in a text message to Europe.

As the war extended into its ninth day, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had enough supplies to continue their drone and missile war over the Middle East for up to six months.

 Several blasts were heard over Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv after the Israeli military said it had detected a salvo of missiles from Iran. The Magen David Adom emergency services said six people were wounded in central Israel.

 - Advanced missiles -

Trump again refused to rule out sending US ground troops into Iran, but continued to insist that the war was all but won despite the ongoing Iranian missile and drone strikes.

The US President spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday, Downing Street said, after Trump had lobbed insults at the premier and accused him of trying to join a war “we’ve already won.”

The pair discussed military cooperation, London said, with Britain having granted the US use of its military bases for “collective self-defense of partners in the region,” having refused to allow their use for the initial strikes on Iran.

 Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used only first- and second-generation missiles, but would use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.

Saudi Arabia said two people were killed and 12 wounded by a “projectile” on Sunday in Al Kharj province, having earlier said it intercepted a wave of drones headed for targets including the diplomatic quarter of its capital Riyadh.

Kuwait, meanwhile, said an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport and Bahrain reported a water desalination plant had been damaged.

Iran’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,200 civilians had been killed and around 10,000 wounded — figures AFP could not independently verify.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed during the fighting in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

 - No clear way out -

China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said the war in the Middle East should “never have happened,” telling a press conference in Beijing: “The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”

On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed “that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open.”

Lebanese health ministry says death toll from Israeli strikes up to 394

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 394 people in the past week, including 83 children and 42 women, the country’s health minister said Sunday.

Rakan Nassereddine also said at a press conference that nine rescue workers were among the dead, condemning attacks on medical teams and ambulances.

A previous toll announced on Saturday by the minister had put the number of dead at 294 since Lebanon was drawn into the regional war last Monday between Iran, Israel and the United States.

Oman says nuclear talks were ‘making progress’

Trump’s comments came as the war entered its ninth day, with the death toll in Iran rising to 1,332, with at least 11 killed across the Gulf, 11 killed in Israel, and six US soldiers killed to date.

The US president has offered shifting justifications for the war, repeatedly pointing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile programme, as well as the totality of Iran’s actions in the region since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

CENTCOM Update

TAMPA, Fla. – Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 8, 2026

Critics, including the majority of Democratic US lawmakers, have said Trump has provided scant evidence to prove Iran posed an immediate threat.

Trump threatens to expand attacks in Iran, claims Tehran's military capability 'wiped out'

On Sunday, Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who had been overseeing indirect US-Iran talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, again rejected US officials’ claims that Tehran had not entered into the negotiations in good faith.

Speaking during a ministerial meeting of the Arab League, Albusaidi said diplomatic initiatives seeking a “fair and honourable solution were making progress” when the US-Israeli attacks began.

He further warned that the region is facing “a dangerous turning point” as fighting escalates.

Kuwait Ministry of Defense says they "are still dealing with a wave of hostile drones that have penetrated the country's airspace...air defense systems and warplanes are still engaging hostile aerial targets" https://t.co/ZQYwz7mp3Q pic.twitter.com/x7UCZDG17Z

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) March 8, 2026

‘Short-term disruption’

Attacks from both sides appeared to have widened, with the US and Israel for the first time striking oil storage and refining facilities in Tehran, and Iran launching more strikes across the Gulf, including a drone attack that caused material damage to a desalination plant in Bahrain.

Both Bloomberg and Axios news have reported that the US and Israel have considered a special ground operation to seize Iran’s enriched uranium, with Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter telling CBS’s Face the Nation news programme that securing the nuclear fuel is “on our radar screen and we’re going to take care of it”.

For their part, top Trump administration officials spent Sunday seeking to alleviate concerns over the war’s knock-on effects on global oil and gas prices.

Rapidly rising prices represent a particular political vulnerability for Trump as his Republican Party faces legislative midterm elections in November.

Speaking to Fox News, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the administration was responding to what she called a “short-term disruption”.

 US public approval of Iran war hits 27 percent, lower than Vietnam War

She said the administration was “tapping into our newfound market in Venezuela”, referring to access US companies had gained to the South American country’s oil industry in the wake of the January 3 US abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Energy experts have said that rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry would likely be a multi-year process, and have questioned what immediate impact it could have in offsetting current shortages.

Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Energy Secretary Chris Wright also maintained that the war would not drag on and that any economic fallout would be fleeting.

Trump, who came into office vowing to end so-called “endless wars”, has said the operations against Iran could last “four to five weeks”, but he also said the conflict has “no time limit”.

Wright pointed to “a temporary period of elevated energy prices”, but denied there was an energy shortage “at all in the Western Hemisphere”.

He also underscored that the US has 400 million gallons of oil in the strategic oil reserves and the administration is “more than happy to use that if it’s needed”.

“What you want is emotional reactions and fear that this is a long-term war,” Wright said. “This is not a long-term war; it’s a temporary movement.”