US & ‘Israel’ at war with Iran | Day 36 coverage
The 2026 Iran War began on February 28 when the United States and ‘Israel’ launched an operation dubbed Epic Fury by the US and Lion's Roar by ‘Israel’, unleashing nearly 900 airstrikes in 12 hours on Iranian missile systems, air defenses, nuclear facilities, military bases, and leadership targets.
Yemen’s Houthi movement entered the war early, launching missile and drone attacks toward ‘Israel’ and expanding the war beyond the Gulf and Levant theaters.
This direct assault followed years of shadow war, including the first-ever Iran-‘Israel’ missile exchanges in April and October 2024 and a limited 12-day war in June 2025 that damaged Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of top officials were killed in the opening salvo, while a US Tomahawk strike on a school adjacent to a naval base near Bandar Abbas killed about 170 civilians, mostly children.
Iran responded within hours by firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and launching thousands of drones at ‘Israel’, US bases in the Gulf, and targets in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait.
Tehran restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz—through which 20% of global oil flows—disrupting shipping and spiking oil prices.
The retaliation reignited fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting ‘Israeli’ strikes there and spreading the conflict regionally while hitting civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, airports, and heritage sites.
Over the next five weeks, US-‘Israeli’ forces conducted sustained air campaigns that destroyed much of Iran’s air-defense network, missile production sites and navy assets.
Iran appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader, but pragmatic senior official Ali Larijani was assassinated in an ‘Israeli’ strike on March 17.
More than 80,000 civilian sites were hit, including 260 medical facilities and UNESCO-listed buildings, causing widespread blackouts, fuel shortages, toxic pollution, and over 2,000 total deaths across Iran, ‘Israel’, Lebanon, and Gulf states.
The war remained active in its fifth week with ongoing US-‘Israeli’ airstrikes on remaining Iranian targets and Iranian retaliatory barrages, including recent cluster-munition attacks on ‘Israel’ and a failed long-range missile attempt at Diego Garcia.
Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz reopens fully but has signaled possible winding down or deals, which Tehran denies pursuing.
VIDEO - Widespread damage in Ramat Gan from Iranian missile
Footage shows destruction and debris caused by a cluster munition in Ramat Gan, following an Iranian missile salvo at central ‘Israel’.
VIDEO - Italian PM meets Saudi Crown Prince in Jeddah
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah during her surprise visit to Saudi Arabia.
Italian PM begins visit to Saudi Arabia on Gulf tour
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni began a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday as part of a Gulf tour to boost "national energy security", a government source said, as the Middle East war rages.
Meloni began her unannounced trip in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, the source said, adding that she was the first leader of a European Union or NATO country to visit the region since the war began on February 28.
The source said the far-right premier would meet officials from Saudi Arabia, as well as from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though it was not immediately clear if she would also visit those two countries.
All three countries have been targeted by Iranian drone and missile strikes in retaliation for the US-‘Israeli’ bombardment of Iran.
"The aim is to strengthen relations with these countries and repeat Italy's support against Iranian attacks," the source said.
"The mission is also aimed at strengthening national energy security," the source said, adding that the Gulf was a "crucial source of oil and gas for Italy".
Italy is highly dependent on energy imports and has been eyeing rising energy prices with growing concern.
The government has cut fuel excise taxes until May 1 in a bid to contain petrol price rises.
Meloni on March 25 visited Algeria, which already provides around 30 percent of Italy's natural gas, in the hope of increasing gas imports.
She is also one of the European leaders closest to US President Donald Trump and has sought to bridge the European and US positions.
But, in line with European allies, Meloni has repeatedly said that Italy does not want to join in the war effort despite Trump's encouragement.
"I continue to believe that, geopolitically, Europe does not have much to gain from a widening gap with the United States," she was quoted by Italian media as saying on Friday.
"But our job is above all to defend our national interests, and when we disagree we have to say so. And this time we do not agree," she said.
Trump has urged countries affected by Iran's selective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz to intervene to free up the vital waterway.
The shipping route accounted for around a quarter of the global seaborne oil trade and 20 percent of liquefied natural gas supplies before the war.
Iran hunts crew member of crashed US jet after one reported rescued
Iranian and American forces were racing each other early Saturday to recover a crew member of the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war.
Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane, while US media reported American special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other still missing.
Iran's military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot was rescued.
The war erupted more than a month ago with US-‘Israeli’ strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.
US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the loss of the F-15, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The president has been briefed".
President Donald Trump told NBC the F-15 loss would not affect negotiations with Iran, saying: "No, not at all. No, it's war."
“Valuable reward”
A spokesperson for the Iranian military's central operational command said "an American hostile fighter jet in central Iranian airspace was struck and destroyed by the IRGC Aerospace Force's advanced air defence system".
"The jet was completely obliterated, and further searches are ongoing."
An Iranian television reporter on a local official channel said anyone who captured a crew member alive would "receive a valuable reward".
The US military has announced the loss of several aircraft during Iran operations, including one tanker that crashed in Iraq and three F-15s shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire.
Retired US brigadier general Houston Cantwell -- who has 400 hours of combat flight experience -- said key goals for downed pilots include determining their location and figuring out how to communicate.
"My priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don't want to be captured," he told AFP.
Blown-out windows
Fresh strikes meanwhile hit ‘Israel’, Iran, Lebanon and Gulf countries -- and large blasts rocked northern Tehran, an AFP journalist said. ‘Israel’ said it had launched a wave of strikes in the Iranian capital, alongside parallel attacks in Beirut.
Strikes by all sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies.
In the area around a bridge west of Tehran that was targeted by the United States, an AFP reporter saw a villa and residential buildings with blown-out windows -- but no military installations.
According to the martyrs foundation of Alborz province, cited by the official IRNA agency, the attack killed 13 civilians and wounded dozens.
Ex-FM urges deal
Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Tehran should make a deal with Washington to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran has virtually blocked the key waterway since the war began, where one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes.
Of the few ships that have managed to cross, most have had links to Iran, with 60 percent of commodity-bearing ships crossing the strait either coming from Iran or heading there, an AFP analysis of maritime data showed.
Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region in response to threats from Trump of attacks on infrastructure.
A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait's national oil company on Friday sparked fires, while a separate Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex.
Bahrain said four of its citizens sustained "minor injuries" as a result of shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian drone.
And one person was killed and four others injured after a fire at a gas complex in the United Arab Emirates caused by falling debris from an intercepted attack.
Explosions heard in Tehran: Iranian media
Iranian media reported Saturday morning that explosions were heard in the capital of Tehran, as the ‘Israeli’-US war enters its sixth week.
VIDEO - US aircraft and helicopters fly over southern Iran
Images posted on social media on Friday show a US aircraft, followed by two helicopters, flying over the town of Zaras in Khuzestan province in southern Iran.
Debris falls on Oracle building in Dubai Internet City
UAE authorities said they responded to a “minor” incident caused by debris from an interception that fell on the facade of the building of the tech company Oracle in Dubai Internet City, per a statement by Dubai’s Media Office.
“No injuries were reported,” the statement said.
It comes amid repeated attacks by Iran on the Gulf countries, made in response to what the Islamic Republic says is retaliation for ‘Israeli’-US strikes.
Iran has previously vowed it would target US tech companies in the region.
Debris falls onto building in Dubai Marina: authorities
Dubai authorities said they are responding to an incident caused by “debris from an aerial interception”, with no fire or injuries reported, according to Dubai’s media office on X.
“Authorities confirm that they responded to an incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell onto the façade of a building in the Dubai Marina area. No fire or injuries were reported,” it said in the statement.
Trump seeks $1.5 trillion defence budget
US President Donald Trump asked lawmakers to approve a massive $1.5 trillion defence budget for 2027, as the United States faces rising costs from its war with Iran and mounting global security commitments.
The proposal would lift Pentagon spending by more than 40 percent in a single year -- the sharpest increase since World War II.
Unverified photo: CH-47 helicopter in Kuwait after attack by Iran
Unverified social media photos purportedly show a destroyed US army CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Kuwait.
Reports say this is the aftermath of an Iranian attack on a military base in Kuwait.
Trump says downed US jet will not affect Iran negotiations
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran’s downing a US F-15E fighter jet will not affect the ongoing negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
“No, not at all. No, it’s war. We’re in war, Garrett," Trump told NBC News correspondent Garrett Haake.
“We hope that’s not going to happen,” said the president, according to the report.
Loud explosions heard in Beirut as strikes reported in southern suburbs: AFP
Loud explosions were heard in Beirut on Saturday, an AFP journalist said, as the ‘Israeli’ military claimed it had begun striking "Hezbollah infrastructure" in the Lebanese capital.
AFP's correspondent in Beirut heard at least two explosions within half an hour and reported smoke billowing from one of them.
The ‘Israeli’ military said on Telegram it "has begun striking Hezbollah infrastructure sites in Beirut".
Local media reported two strikes on the southern suburbs.
VIDEO - Iranian missile hits industrial area in Negev
Direct hit by Iranian missile at an industrial in the Negev, southern ‘Israel’
Hebrew media: At least one person injured in Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv area
Hebrew media reported on Saturday morning that at least one person was injured in an Iranian missile attack on the Tel Aviv area.
Iranian cluster munitions fall east of Tel Aviv: Hebrew media
Hebrew channel 12 reported that munitions from an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead fell in the in Bnei Brak and Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv
Factory in Negev hit after Iranian missile barrage: Hebrew media
Hebrew media outlets reported that a site was struck in southern ‘Israel’ by an Iranian missile attack.
“Israel Hayom” said a factory in the Negev was hit, triggering a fire.
‘Israel’ detects missiles launched from Iran: military
The ‘Israeli’ military said Saturday morning it detected ballistic missiles launched from Iran.
“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the statement said.
Sirens were sounded in southern ‘Israel’.
VIDEO - US fighter jets taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln to strike Iran
The Pentagon releases images of US sailors conducting flight operations on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) during Operation Epic Fury, with fighter jets launching from the carrier.
Four injured in Bahrain from Iranian drone debris: interior ministry
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Saturday morning that four people were injured and that houses damaged in the Sitra area after debris fell from the destruction of an Iranian drone.
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