About 2,500 U.S. Marines are being deployed to the Middle East as American and Israeli strikes keep pounding Iran and the Islamic Republic keeps attacking Persian Gulf shipping and energy infrastructure. As Iranian threats choke global oil shipments, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said "we have been dealing with it and don't need to worry about it."
A large explosion rocked a square in Tehran that was filled with people for annual Quds Day demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, Iranian state television reported. Thousands chanted "death to Israel" and "death to America."
More than 100 children are among the 773 people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. All six crew members aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are dead, raising the U.S. military death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13.
Israel said Friday its strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon are "continuing and intensifying. Hezbollah's leader said his gunmen "will fight until the end." U.S. President Donald Trump said the war would end "when I feel it in my bones."
Here is the latest:
Palestinians in Gaza fear being forgotten as attention shifts to Iran
Israel’s two-year war on Gaza has been muffled with a fragile ceasefire since October, but much of the territory remains in ruins with no clear timeline for reconstruction.
People gathered for Friday prayers in Gaza City inside a tent-turned-prayer area in the middle of a destroyed school campus.
Reem al-Naggar, a displaced woman, told The Associated Press she fears being forgotten as the Iran war escalates.
On Friday evening, her family prepared to break their daily Ramadan fast — a meal known as Iftar — by laying out a modest salad and noodle soup with barely enough protein.
“When we miss our home, we go to have iftar on top of (the rubble of) the house. We place our food and remember the good days,” said Reem’s relative, Amany al-Naggar.
An Israeli strike on Friday killed three people east of Gaza City, including two teens, health officials said. Israel’s military said it was unaware of any strikes in the area.
Wall Street’s losses deepen as Iran war keeps pressure on oil prices
Those higher oil prices, in turn, are ratcheting up inflationary pressure on the global economy.
“Everything’s just trading with crude oil at this point,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird. “We’re basically in a holding pattern until we get kind of the hour-by-hour, day-by-day news about the conflict in the Middle East.”
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been up as much as 0.9% in the early going. The benchmark index is now down 3.1% so far this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite finished 0.9% lower. The indexes also ended the week with their third straight weekly loss.
After briefly easing early Friday, crude oil prices rose again, bringing the benchmark oil price back above $100 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, closed 2.7% higher at $103.14 per barrel. It’s up about 40% for the month.
Vance says Iran’s new supreme leader is hurt but ‘We don’t know exactly how bad’
The U.S. vice president told reporters while he was traveling to North Carolina on Friday that, “It’s not totally clear, actually” if the U.S. or Israel launched a strike that injured Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump tempers expectations, says Iranian opponents face ‘big hurdle’ in toppling the government
At the start of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment, Trump confidently told Iranians that they would soon have an opportunity to rid themselves from the clerical rule of the past 47 years.
“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump urged Iranians opponents of the government.
But in his Fox News Radio interview on Friday, Trump was far more measured about the pathway ahead for opponents of the Islamic regime and alluded to the paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, maintaining its grip as a menacing force in Iran.
“So, I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons. I think it’s a very big hurdle,” Trump said.
He added, “it’ll happen, but it probably will be maybe not immediately. Who is going to do that? They literally have people in the streets with machine guns, machine gunning people down if they want to protest.”
Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill 8 people, including a child and 2 medics
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an airstrike on a home killed six people, including a child, late Friday in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
The Health Ministry said a separate airstrike on a paramedics’ center in the southern village of Souaneh killed two medics and wounded five others.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel denied nearly all aid deliveries to Gaza for the last two days, UN says
The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only one open into Gaza, and the U.N. humanitarian office known as OCHA reported that on Thursday and Friday nearly all humanitarian movements were denied, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
As a result, he said, the U.N. has only been able to collect fuel for distribution in Gaza.
OCHA said the World Health Organization reported that it has not been allowed to collect aid including nearly 50 intensive care unit beds and 170 pallets of medicine.
Dujarric said the U.N. raises the issue of aid deliveries every day with Israeli authorities. “What we need is predictable flow of humanitarian aid in sufficient volumes to meet all the needs,” he said.
Hezbollah leader in televised speech says his group ‘will fight until the end’
Naim Kassem said Friday night that the Lebanese government hasn't been able to defend the country or its people from Israel's near daily strikes since a ceasefire went into effect in November 2024, so Hezbollah resumed firing after the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran.
Surrender and defeat “are not in our dictionary,” Kassem said. “This is an existential battle. It is not a limited or simple battle.”
Shrapnel has fallen on Qatar in more than 600 places during the war
Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said in an interview posted on the ministry’s social media pages that it had responded to 5,000 reports of fallen shrapnel in more than 600 locations since the beginning of the war.
The Gulf nation, home to the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base and smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut, says it has intercepted most of the incoming Iranian missiles and drones.
Iran’s president speaks with Egyptian leader about de-escalation efforts
In a phone call Friday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country is still keen on “fraternal relations and good neighborliness with Arab states.”
That’s according to the office of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi, a former general and close ally of Saudi Arabia, who condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf countries and insisted they don’t support or participate in the war.
US military is sending roughly 2,500 Marines and at least one extra warship to Middle East, AP source says
Roughly 2,500 Marines and at least one amphibious assault ship are headed for the Middle East, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said that elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the Middle East. The move would mark a major addition of troops to the region.
Marine Expeditionary Units are not only trained and equipped to conduct amphibious landings but they also specialize in bolstering security at embassies, evacuating civilians, and disaster relief. While the deployment is a major increase of troops to the region, it does not necessarily indicate that a ground operation is imminent or will take place at all.
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as well the Tripoli and other amphibious assault ships carrying the Marines are based in Japan and have been at sea in the waters of the Pacific Ocean for the past several days, according to images released by the military. Their location puts them more than a week away from the waters off Iran.
— By Konstantin Toropin
Israel’s military cuts major roads in southern Lebanon
The strikes on roads and bridges come as Israel’s military says it is sending more forces to the front along the border with Lebanon.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel’s air force twice struck the Jardali road linking the southern city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun. Strikes also destroyed bridges that Israel said were used by Hezbollah fighters.
After the previous Israel-Hezbollah war, the World Bank estimated the cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon at about $11 billion, with damage to physical structures amounting to $6.8 billion.
Last week, Israel's finance minister threatened to make Beirut's southern suburbs look like Gaza.
The United Arab Emirates to resume air traffic
The country’s General Civil Aviation Authority said Friday that it would gradually resume air traffic after closures amid drone strikes on Dubai’s airport and closures during two weeks of war.
The UAE’s leaders have projected confidence in their air defenses, but flight cancellations threaten key pillars of its tourism‑ and transit‑dependent economy. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest, handles tens of millions of travelers a year and links Europe, Asia and Africa. The aviation industry employs hundreds of thousands of people in the country.
Trump admin to help US farmers meet war-related fertilizer price hikes
“We’re looking at every potential avenue to keep the fertilizer costs down as these farmers are going into planting season,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Rollins said she’s had conversations on Capitol Hill exploring additional funding for farmers. “No big announcements yet, but it is coming.”
Most farmers have already purchased fertilizer for this year’s planting season, Rollins said, but about 25% have not. A separate aid package from December opened $12 billion in aid for farmers hit by rising costs amid a trade war with China.
Crude prices remain high despite US easing of some Russian oil sanctions
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X that the 30-day reprieve on sanctions applies to Russian oil already loaded on tankers as of Thursday. He said allowing this stranded oil to be sold provides no additional financial benefit for Russia, because the Kremlin already taxed it when the oil was extracted from the ground.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it shows how the war has boosted Moscow's ability to profit from its energy exports, a pillar of the Kremlin's budget as it presses its invasion of Ukraine.
“This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” Zelenskyy said. “It spends the money from energy sales on weapons, and all of this is then used against us.”
Israeli military says its strikes have eliminated hundreds of Hezbollah militants
Israel says it has killed over 350 Hezbollah militants since renewed fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group broke out in Lebanon almost two weeks ago.
In a statement, the military said among those killed are senior Hezbollah operatives as well as prominent commanders of other militant groups.
Italian tourism group warns Iran war could cost billions in lost travel
Italy’s travel industry says the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and spillover to Gulf countries is triggering widespread cancellations and could cost the country at least €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in tourism revenue in 2026, according to the Italian Federation of Travel and Tourism Business.
Losses could reach €6 billion ($6.9 billion) when Gulf transit hubs are included, as travelers cancel or delay trips to destinations Italians often use as gateways to places like the Maldives and Japan, the federation’s Vice President Luana De Angelis said.
“All those people who were about to book their summer and Easter holidays have been forced to wait and see what happens,” she said.
Demonstrators across the Middle East and beyond mark Jerusalem Day
Protesters from Pakistan to Nigeria voiced their support for Palestinians on the last Friday of Ramadan, waving images of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and denouncing Israel and the United States over the ongoing war with Iran.
The Jerusalem Day rallies were especially intense in countries with large Shiite Muslim populations. In Yemen’s capital Sanaa, crowds held posters of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed at the start of the war, and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to Houthi-run al-Masirah television.
In Karachi, Pakistan, demonstrators shouted similar slogans as women dragged coffins marked with U.S. and Israeli flags through the streets.
Iranians in bombed capital tell AP of rising fear and isolation
Residents of Iran’s capital are in a state of shock after two weeks of fierce U.S.-Israeli bombardment.
From Tehran’s central historic quarters to upscale northern areas, bombs are shaking the city day and night, with no sirens or warning systems to alert the public. With the internet shut down, families and friends rely on each other for news about the war and the latest damage caused by airstrikes.
“The psychological pressure is real,” said one person in northern Tehran.
Residents say security forces have increased their presence in the streets to prevent any show of dissent. At the same time, the government has encouraged its supporters to gather in street demonstrations.
Red Cross and Red Crescent express outrage at killing of humanitarian workers
In less than two weeks of war, a Lebanese Red Cross paramedic helping wounded civilians was killed by an Israeli airstrike, and other medics have been wounded, the groups said.
Iranian Red Crescent staff and volunteers also suffered casualties aiding civilians, the groups said. Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel have been killed this year in Sudan and Gaza too.
The heads of the organizations said humanitarian workers are protected under international law and must be safeguarded in conflicts.
“When humanitarian workers are protected, so is our shared humanity,” they said in a joint statement Friday. “The lives of our teams, and those they serve, depend on it.”
UN warns Strait of Hormuz disruptions could delay aid shipments worldwide
Shipping disruptions would also drive up costs for food, medicine and other lifesaving supplies, said Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson.
Citing aid chief Tom Fletcher, the spokesperson said the world body is urging safe passage for humanitarian cargo. Fletcher told the Security Council the disruptions are already affecting Gaza, where flour prices have surged 270%, while global shipping costs are 16% higher than a year ago.
Israel to operate evacuation flights for stranded Americans
The flights arranged with U.S. diplomatic support aim to help thousands of Americans in Israel whose return flights were canceled due to the war.
El Al, Israel’s flag carrier, says it will begin operating six special non-stop flights at “full capacity” from Tel Aviv to New York starting Monday. It will contact U.S. citizens on Sunday who hold valid El Al tickets that were canceled and not yet reassigned.
While El Al has been flying a limited number of passengers out of Israel since March 8, but these are the first dedicated for U.S. citizens. The airline acknowledged it’s “a partial solution” and may add more flights pending government approval.
The U.S. State Department says most Americans who left the region took commercial flights, while about 50 charter flights evacuated others. Some departed Israel via overland routes.
430 Bangladeshis stranded in Qatar return home on a special flight
Embassy staff and passengers who were stuck in transit when the war broke out made it home Friday evening on a Qatar Airways flight coordinated with the Bangladeshi government.
That’s according to Ragib Samad, executive director at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.
The war has forced widespread airspace closures, cancelling 447 flights at Dhaka’s airport.
Lebanon’s president says Israel hasn’t responded to his offer to negotiate
President Joseph Aoun’s proposal that he put forward last week calls for Israel to halt its attacks on Hezbollah while international logistics support helps the Lebanese army deploy in the country’s south and take control of Hezbollah weapons and depots.
Speaking during a meeting with U.N. chief António Guterres, Aoun said that Israel’s attacks are threatening regional stability.
Both men called for Israel and Lebanon to begin negotiations. Israel has said Lebanon’s government is not serious about disarming Hezbollah so the Israeli military must do it instead.
UN launches a $308 million appeal for Lebanon as Israeli attacks intensify
During a surprise visit to Lebanon, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the emergency appeal to fund food, water, health care and other aid over the next three months.
In addition to the hundreds of Lebanese civilians killed during the fighting, Guterres said about 850,000 people have been displaced.
“For years, Lebanon has opened its doors to those fleeing conflict,” he said. “Now, the world must show the people of Lebanon our strongest support in this hour of grave danger and profound need.”
Lebanese prime minister urges an end to Israeli strikes and vows to disarm Hezbollah
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to launch a humanitarian appeal of more than $300 million.
“Lebanon did not choose this war,” Salam said, criticizing Hezbollah’s rocket fire into Israel. “There is no justification in holding an entire nation hostage.”
He said more than 500 Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in southern Lebanon have been dismantled, pushing back on Israeli claims that Beirut has failed to act against the group.
“These actions are not symbolic gestures,” Salam said.
Israel striking more sites in Iran and Lebanon
Israeli Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Friday that the air force had struck an Iranian intelligence directorate while senior Iranian officials were present, as well as other command centers and missile production and storage sites.
The Israeli military spokesperson said strikes were “continuing and intensifying” in both Iran and Lebanon and that more combat troops would be sent to Israel’s northern border. “Despite the long-term degradation of the Iranian regime’s and Hezbollah’s strike capabilities, the threat remains,” he said.
The military said it has struck more than 7,600 sites in Iran and more than 1,100 in Lebanon.
With Jerusalem’s holy sites closed, Muslim worshippers pray on streets outside Old City
The Old City contains an area Jews call the Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism and home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary and today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Holy sites have been closed to worshippers of all faiths throughout the war.
Israeli police have deployed extra forces and the country’s Home Front Command has cited wartime safety concerns as a reason for restrictions, though Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has little shelter infrastructure.
Jerusalem-based nonprofit Ir Amim questioned why the restrictions have remained in place as other synagogues and mosques have remained open, saying they “cannot be separated from the long-standing Israeli policy aimed at reducing Palestinian presence” at the holy site.
Iraq is caught in the crossfire, with attacks by both sides on its soil
Unlike other Middle Eastern states touched by the war, Iraq hosts both entrenched Iran-aligned forces and significant U.S. interests. As in past upheavals, Iraqis have learned to adapt to daily violence that intrudes on everyday life.
But Iraq’s economy depends overwhelmingly on oil, so the longer the conflict lasts, the greater the risk that economic shocks, political paralysis and friction with Iran‑backed militias will combine to unravel Iraq’s hard‑won relative stability.
The government might not be able to meet its oversized public‑sector payroll as soon as next month, risking widespread unrest, two Iraqi Kurdish officials said.
In the meantime, a parallel conflict to the wider war has escalated between Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups and the U.S. — near-daily drone strikes have targeted American interests across the country, while the U.S. has struck back against militia bases to defend its troops.
Trump says Iran war will be over ‘when I feel it in my bones’
Hinting at voter anxieties in the U.S. as the conflict in the Middle East continues, the president said the economy and American life will soon return to what it was before he launched strikes on Iran.
“This will bounce right back when it’s over, and I don’t think it’s going to be long,” Trump said in his interview with Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade.
Asked when the war will be over, Trump responded: “When I feel it — when I feel it in my bones.”
German chancellor wants a ‘convincing plan’ for ending the war
Friedrich Merz spoke Friday alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at military exercises in Norway.
Merz said the world is witnessing “a dangerous escalation,” and said Iran is “indiscriminately” carrying out attacks on countries across the Gulf region.
“With every day this war lasts, more questions are coming up, more than can be answered yet,” Merz said. “And one thing becomes increasingly clear, we need a convincing plan on how this war can come to an end.”
All 6 crew aboard US KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq are dead, US military says
The military says the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.
Earlier, U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in "friendly airspace," and that the other plane landed safely.
The military said the loss of the aircraft was “not due to hostile or friendly fire.”