Middle East crisis live: Israel warns it will pursue Iran’s next supreme leader; black smoke smothers Tehran after missiles strike oil depots

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Summary of the day so far…

The body in charge of selecting a new Iranian supreme leader said it had reached a decision – although the name was not immediately announced.
Israel threatened to “pursue every successor” to the former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US-Israeli airstrikes last weekend.
Overnight strikes by the US and Israel hit five oil sites around Tehran, according to an Iran official. The official said that the five facilities “were damaged” but the “fire was brought under control”.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the amount of people killed from Israeli airstrikes in the past week had increased to 394, including many women and children.
An Israeli airstrike hit a hotel in Beirut on Sunday, killing at least four people, according to Lebanese health officials.
Iran’s health ministry, meanwhile, said US and Israeli airstrikes had killed 200 children and about 200 women since the war started, and have damaged critical health infrastructure.
Swiss ⁠defence minister Martin Pfister said the US and Israel have violated international law with their attacks ⁠on Iran.
A wave of Iranian strikes hit the Gulf on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all reporting attacks. In Bahrain, authorities announced that a desalination plant had been damaged in an Iranian attack.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, reportedly threatened to increase attacks on American targets across the region in the face of ongoing Israeli and US airstrikes. He had earlier apologised to Iran’s neighbours for recent strikes against them and pledged to halt such strikes unless an attack on Iran originated from their soil.

Key events

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on Sunday that Tehran is not seeking a ceasefire, adding that “aggressors” should be punished.

“If the enemy attacks us from any country, Tehran will respond decisively,” he told Iran’s state TV.

The Iranian army said on Sunday that at ‌least 104 people were killed and 32 were wounded in an attack by ⁠the US on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast last week.

The report follows a statement from US defense secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, who confirmed that a US submarine sank an Iranian naval vessel in international waters.

Following a rescue mission launched by Sri Lankan authorities, the surviving injured crew members were transported to a hospital in Sri Lanka for medical treatment.

Seventh US military service member killed in action

Another US military service member has died from wounds sustained during Iran’s initial counter-attack a week ago, bringing the number of US troops killed in action so far in the war with Iran to seven, the US military said on Sunday.

“Last night, a US 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 US troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 1,” US Central Command said in a statement.

“This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury. Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification,” the statement said.

British forces successfully engaged a one-way drone fired towards Iraq from Iran last night, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an X post on Sunday.

“UK forces successfully engaged a one way attack drone fired from Iran towards Iraq,” the post said. “Last night, the engagement occurred as RAF Typhoons and F-35 jets continued to conduct defensive sorties across the region.”

It continued: “A Merlin helicopter is due to arrive in theatre, further strengthening our ability to detect aerial threats. The aircraft can fly up to a mile in height, giving advance warning of incoming drones or missiles.”

French president Emmanuel Macron has spoken with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, calling on Iran to halt strikes against other countries in the region and to end the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Macron said on Sunday.

In a post on X, Macron also reiterated France’s position that a diplomatic solution was necessary to end the conflict.

“I met with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian,” he wrote. “I informed him that the safety and return to France of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are currently within the grounds of the French Embassy, remain an absolute priority for us.”

“I emphasized the necessity for Iran to immediately cease its strikes against countries in the region. Iran must also guarantee freedom of navigation by putting an end to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”

He continued: “Finally, I reiterated our grave concern regarding the development of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs and the entirety of its destabilizing activities in the region, which lie at the root of the current crisis.”

Macron ended the statement by saying the two “agreed to remain in contact.”

Hugo Lowell

President Donald Trump took a golf break Sunday morning as US airstrikes against Iran continued. Guardian White House correspondent Hugo Lowell posted an image of Trump waving to supporters after finishing up a round.

Donald Trump says Iran’s new leader ‘is not going to last long’ if Iran does not get his approval first

Edward Helmore

Donald Trump warned Sunday that Iran’s new leader “is not going to last long” if the Iranians do not get his approval first for the theocratic posting.

“He’s going to have to get approval from us,” the president told ABC News. “If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it.”

He added: “I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again or worse let them have a nuclear weapon.”

Asked on Sunday if he would accept someone with ties to the old regime, the president told the outlet, “I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify.”

He also indicated that he would be willing to send US forces to secure an estimated 460kg of enriched uranium stockpile that Iran is believed to be holding that is considered by the IAEA to be out of regulatory control and could be buried in the Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow enrichment – bombed by the US in June.

“Everything is on the table. Everything,” he said.

He again refused to be drawn on how long the US-Israel actions could last. “I don’t know. I never predict,” he said. “All I can say is we are ahead of schedule both in terms of lethality and in terms of time”.

He also dismissed reports of fractures within his Maga base over the US-Israel actions that to some critics appear to run counter to his no foreign wars, America First campaign promise.

“It’s more popular than ever. It’s a very Maga thing what we’re doing. A very very Maga thing,” he told ABC. “Because otherwise we won’t have a country either, we’ll be hit. And Maga is all about saving America … I’m at the highest point I’ve ever been with Maga.”

Donald Trump appeared unbothered about the effect the war has had on gas prices, referring to the rising costs as “a little glitch.”

“I think it’s fine. It’s a little glitch. We had to take this detour. I knew exactly what was going to happen with the detour,” Trump told ABC News in an interview. “But the nice part is we sank 44 of their ships, which is their entire navy,” he said, going on to continue speaking about the US military’s achievements in the war.

Trump administration officials are defending the temporary easing of certain sanctions on Russian oil, forecasting that the sharp rise in gasoline prices triggered by the war with Iran would subside within weeks. Appearing on several news programs, energy secretary Chris Wright and US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz argued that a waiver granted last week for Indian purchases of Russian crude is a necessary move to stabilize global markets.

“It’s a 30-day pause to allow, which is just kind of common sense, to allow the millions and millions of barrels of oil that are sitting out on ships to go to Indian refineries,” Waltz explained during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Wright said that the waiver is designed to “tamp this fear of shortage of oil, tamp the price spikes and the concerns we see in the marketplace.” As the conflict enters its second week with no clear resolution, rising fuel costs have become a fresh burden for a US economy already shaken by the unexpected loss of 92,000 jobs in February.

According to AAA data from Friday, the national average for regular gasoline has climbed to $3.32 per gallon—an 11% weekly increase and the highest point since September 2024. Diesel prices have seen an even sharper spike, rising 15% in a week to $4.33, the highest level recorded since November 2023.

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