Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the broader crisis in the region, and global economy.
Here are the latest developments:
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The Iranian army has vowed revenge for the killing of security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli airstrike, with Iran’s army chief threatening to launch a “decisive and regrettable” retaliation.
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Iran also confirmed the death of the Basij militia commander Gholamreza Soleimani, after Israel earlier claimed its military assassinated him. It marks the highest level assassination in the war since joint US-Israeli strikes killed the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February.
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The Israeli military called on residents of a central Beirut neighbourhood to evacuate early Wednesday, warning of an imminent attack on the Lebanese capital targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In a statement on social media, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee issued “an urgent warning to residents of… Bashoura neighbourhood”, saying Israeli forces would operate against a Hezbollah facility there.
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Donald Trump continued to lash out at Nato allies, claiming “we don’t need” their help in the Iran war after pressuring them to help the US secure the strait of Hormuz, but added that “they should’ve been there”. Trump said Nato was making a “foolish mistake” and once again framed the issue as a loyalty test for the alliance.
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The US military said it targeted sites along Iran’s coastline near the strait of Hormuz because Iranian anti-ship missiles posed a risk to international shipping there. US Central Command said US forces successfully employed “multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions” in the strikes.
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Trump’s former director of the national counterterrorism center Joe Kent quit, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran”. In his resignation letter, Kent accused “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media” of deploying “a misinformation campaign” that ultimately “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran”.
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Israel’s assault on Lebanon has killed at least 912 people, including 111 children, and wounded 2,221 others, per the Lebanese health ministry, with over a million people displaced.
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Israeli attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon may amount to war crimes, the United Nations human rights office said.
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The Israeli military earlier issued a fresh evacuation order for the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre and its surrounding villages and Palestinian refugee camps, sparking an exodus of residents from Lebanon’s fourth largest city.
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A projectile hit the premises of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday night. But no damage to the plant or injuries to staff were reported, Iran told the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Key events
The war on Iran has not delayed shipments of weapons to Taiwan or changed US policy toward the island, officials from President Donald Trump’s administration told members of Congress on Tuesday, despite the demands of the intense air campaign.
“Have we delayed moving things to Taiwan? We haven’t,” Stanley Brown, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Political-Military Affairs, told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
The US and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on 28 February, a campaign that has raised concerns among some US officials that the US defense industry would be unable to keep up with demand and could be forced to slow shipments to buyers such as Taiwan, which faces steadily rising military pressure from China.
There was already a backlog of US arms shipments to Taiwan before the Iran war started. Brown said the administration was looking at ways to expedite shipments, without providing specifics.
Speaking at the same hearing, Director of the Defense Security cooperation Agency Michael Miller said in 2023 he signed a directive to prioritize Taiwan above other buyers that may be in the queue for competing weapons purchases.
“That remains standing guidance. So, in the matter of whether there was a competition between provision of Harpoons to Saudi Arabia or to Taiwan, Taiwan would take priority,” he added, referring to the anti-ship missile.
Iran foreign minister says global repercussions of the war ‘will hit all’
Iran’s foreign minister said today that the global repercussions of the Middle East war “will hit all”, suggesting more western officials should push back against the conflict.
“[A] wave of global repercussions has only begun and will hit all – regardless of wealth, faith, or race,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X, accompanied by a copy of the US National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent’s resignation on Tuesday.
In his resignation letter, Kent said he could not “in good conscience” support the ongoing war in Iran,” because “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation”.
Abbas Araghchi said there was a “rising number of voices – (including) European and US officials” exclaiming that the war on Iran was unjust. “More members of the international community should follow suit,” his post said.
Lebanon said Israeli strikes on central Beirut early Wednesday without warning killed at least six people, as Israel’s military warned it would strike a third district in the capital.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on 2 March when Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in response to US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has responded with intense strikes in multiple Lebanese regions and ground operations in the south, and has hit central Beirut several times, with and without warning.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a strike in the early hours of Wednesday hit an apartment in the central Zuqaq al-Blat neighbourhood, a densely populated area close to the government’s headquarters and several embassies.
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the broader crisis in the region, and global economy.
Here are the latest developments:
-
The Iranian army has vowed revenge for the killing of security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli airstrike, with Iran’s army chief threatening to launch a “decisive and regrettable” retaliation.
-
Iran also confirmed the death of the Basij militia commander Gholamreza Soleimani, after Israel earlier claimed its military assassinated him. It marks the highest level assassination in the war since joint US-Israeli strikes killed the former supreme leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February.
-
The Israeli military called on residents of a central Beirut neighbourhood to evacuate early Wednesday, warning of an imminent attack on the Lebanese capital targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In a statement on social media, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee issued “an urgent warning to residents of… Bashoura neighbourhood”, saying Israeli forces would operate against a Hezbollah facility there.
-
Donald Trump continued to lash out at Nato allies, claiming “we don’t need” their help in the Iran war after pressuring them to help the US secure the strait of Hormuz, but added that “they should’ve been there”. Trump said Nato was making a “foolish mistake” and once again framed the issue as a loyalty test for the alliance.
-
The US military said it targeted sites along Iran’s coastline near the strait of Hormuz because Iranian anti-ship missiles posed a risk to international shipping there. US Central Command said US forces successfully employed “multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions” in the strikes.
-
Trump’s former director of the national counterterrorism center Joe Kent quit, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran”. In his resignation letter, Kent accused “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media” of deploying “a misinformation campaign” that ultimately “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran”.
-
Israel’s assault on Lebanon has killed at least 912 people, including 111 children, and wounded 2,221 others, per the Lebanese health ministry, with over a million people displaced.
-
Israeli attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon may amount to war crimes, the United Nations human rights office said.
-
The Israeli military earlier issued a fresh evacuation order for the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre and its surrounding villages and Palestinian refugee camps, sparking an exodus of residents from Lebanon’s fourth largest city.
-
A projectile hit the premises of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday night. But no damage to the plant or injuries to staff were reported, Iran told the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/18/iran-war-live-updates-oil-prices-hormuz-trump-larijani-key-leader-killed-israel-strikes
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