War in the Middle East: latest developments

A projectile struck a container ship near the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, causing a small fire onboard, the UK maritime agency said, adding the ship's crew had been reported as safe.

- Three trapped in ship in Hormuz -

Three crew members believed to be trapped aboard a Thai bulk carrier hit by projectiles while travelling through the crucial Strait of Hormuz were yet to be rescued on Thursday, the vessel's owner said.

- Bahrain says fuel tanks attacked -

Bahrain told residents to stay home after an Iranian attack on fuel tanks on Thursday in Muharraq Governorate, one of the country's four administrative governorates.

- Drone attacks -

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed two drones headed toward the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country.

Earlier Thursday, the ministry said it shot down one drone approaching a district housing foreign embassies, and another in the eastern region.

Kuwait's defence ministry also said it had intercepted several drones. 

State media reported a fire in a residential building, resulting in two injuries. 

- Israel says Iran fires more missiles -

The Israeli military said a new wave of missiles was heading for Israel, following an earlier wave of strikes that coincided with Israeli strikes on Tehran and Beirut.

It said it had deployed air defences to intercept them. 

In response, Israel said it was carrying out "wide-scale" strikes on Tehran and a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut.

- Strike on Iraq kills two -

An air strike targeting a base in northern Iraq killed at least two fighters, several sources told AFP. 

- Strike on Beirut seafront kills 7 -

The Lebanese health ministry said that seven people were killed and 21 injured in an Israeli strike on the seafront area of Beirut, where some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open, hours after another attack in the heart of the capital.

- Trump says Iran near defeat -

President Donald Trump reiterated his insistence that US strikes on Iran had already practically defeated the Islamic republic.

"They are pretty much at the end of the line," Trump told reporters, after delivering a speech to supporters in which he declared: "We've won...We won -- in the first hour it was over."

- Oil tankers attacked off Iraq -

Two oil tankers were attacked off Iraq's coast, government officials told the INA news agency, as state television broadcast images of a ship engulfed in flames.

At least one crew member of a ship was killed and several were missing, while 38 people had been rescued, port authorities said.

- US to release 172 mn barrels of oil -

The US Department of Energy said it will release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve as part of an agreement among International Energy Agency (IEA) members to ease market turbulence.

The IEA's 32 members earlier agreed to unlock 400 million barrels, its largest ever joint release.

The US release will begin next week and be completed in approximately 120 days, the Energy Department said.

- Iran says launched joint attack with Hezbollah -

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had carried out a joint missile operation with Lebanese ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.

The statement came after Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of rockets and advanced missiles at northern Israel.

- US war costs hit $11.3 bn in 6 days - 

The opening week of the war against Iran cost the United States military more than $11.3 billion, lawmakers were told in a Pentagon briefing, according to a New York Times report.

- Israel conducts drone strikes in Tehran -

Israeli drone strikes killed several members of the Iranian security forces stationed at checkpoints in Tehran, the Fars news agency said, in the first such attacks since the outbreak of the war.

- UN Security Council demands Iran halt attacks -

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for Iran to halt its attacks on Gulf states, while not mentioning the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.

The vote was 13-0, with veto-wielding China and Russia both abstaining.

- Top Iran adviser calls Trump 'Satan'

Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran's Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, lashed out at US President Donald Trump in remarks on state television and reiterated threats to eradicate Israel.

"Trump is the most corrupt and stupid American president," he said. "He is Satan himself."

- Lebanon toll rises above 630 -

Lebanon said the death toll in 10 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah during the Middle East war was above 630 people, while more than 800,000 have registered as displaced.

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