Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut and Tehran on Friday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries that host U.S. forces.

1. U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran in a social media post calling for its “unconditional surrender.” Trump told media outlets on Thursday that he wants to be involved in picking Iran’s next leader. 2. The death toll continues to rise. At least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel have been killed, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed. 3. The U.S. military said early Friday that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze. Its Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack. 4. London police said Friday that four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community. The Metropolitan Police said the suspects — one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals — were taken into custody and that searches are ongoing.

Here is the latest:

Israeli strike hits near Iranian embassy in Beirut

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported the air strike. It was not immediately clear how close it was to the Iranian compound.

Iran’s military spokesperson earlier this week threatened that if Israel targets Iran’s embassy in Lebanon, Iran will consider all of Israel’s embassies in neighboring countries to be legitimate targets.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the strike.

Death toll in Lebanon crosses 200

The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday has risen to 217, with another 798 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

It was not clear how many were civilians. Tens of thousands more have been displaced.

After the attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel Monday for the first time in over a year. Israel has retaliated by bombarding southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel hits Iranian leaders’ bunker

Israel’s military said Friday that it had pummeled an underground bunker Iranian leaders had planned to use in emergencies, deploying more than 50 fighter jets and 100 munitions.

Iran has spent decades constructing underground bunkers for a range of purposes and contingencies. Many of them have been targeted this week.

After strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders, Israel’s military has continued to strike their infrastructure. Israel’s military said its targets have included the Supreme National Security Council’s building — the meeting place for the country’s top security forum — as well as a Revolutionary Guard military academy.

Argentine tourists are ‘desperate to leave’ Israel, ambassador says

Rabbi Axel Wahnish told Radio Rivadavia in Buenos Aires on Friday that 260 Argentine tourists are stranded, and their relatives and contacts are begging for help leaving Israel.

He noted that both official instructions and unofficial recommendations say “the safest thing” to do is to wait and stay close to a shelter.

“The skies are completely closed for departure,” Wahnish said. “The only way out is via Egypt in the south, at the Taba crossing, but you have a four-hour land trip, which is risky.”

He said many Argentines are trying to flee to Egypt despite the danger, and the embassy is helping them “to evacuate via that route.”

Tehran resident tells of living through airstrikes

“The psychological pressure is real. The sound of explosions and the uncertainty about what might happen next make it hard to sleep,” the 29-year-old told The Associated Press. He declined to be identified due to safety concerns.

“At the same time, people are trying to keep hope alive and believe that this difficult time will eventually pass,” he said.

He and his family are among many residents choosing to remain in the city, although others had left for safer locations, he said in text messages.

A lack of reliable information and air raid warnings are adding to people’s anxiety. “During the Iran–Iraq war, people say there were sirens to warn civilians but today there is no such system,” he said.

While there were no shortages, many businesses are closed and prices are rising daily.

Displaced Beirut residents sleep on streets as Israeli strikes southern suburbs

Beirut’s roads were choked with traffic and its squares and parks dotted with tents as residents fled Israeli strikes Friday.

As smoke from airstrikes rose over the city’s southern districts, Israel’s warnings to leave the area caused gridlock downtown. More than 95,000 people have been displaced.

Those unable to find shelter in schools put up tents or slept in cars. Others laid blankets on pavement.

“What can we do? We prayed here under the tree. During the night we slept in the car because there is no place to stay,” said Jihan Shehadeh, who like many others is fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“They threatened the southern suburbs, so we gathered our things, left and moved out of the whole area. Now we’re living a tragic life here, displaced,” added Jamal Saif Al-Din.

Portugal says it has evacuated 186 people from the Mideast

Portugal said Friday that two repatriation flights from the Mideast had reached its territory. A TAP charter plane arriving Friday morning from Oman carried 147 passengers, 139 of them Portuguese. The rest were foreign nationals, Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said at a summit.

A separate military flight reached Portugal on Friday carrying 24 Portuguese nationals and 15 foreigners, the government said.

Portugal has allowed the U.S. to use the Lajes air base on the Azores Islands for its air campaign against Iran. This contrasts starkly with that of neighboring Spain, which disallowed Washington to use bases within its territory, sparking a diplomatic tussle with the Trump administration.

Montenegro defended Portugal’s stance on Friday, citing its long-standing relationship with the U.S. and Iran’s violations of international law.

More US charter flights are bringing Americans back from Mideast

The State Department says more U.S. government chartered flights are bringing stranded Americans home from the Middle East daily, including one plane emblazoned with the New England Patriots’ logo.

The assistant secretary of state for public affairs posted a photo of Americans boarding the Patriots plane, at least the second such flight that landed Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Friday.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a friend and supporter of Trump, but his football franchise did not arrange or pay for the flight, the social media post said.

“One of the companies the State Department contracted for charter flights also manages the New England Patriots team plane. This flight was entirely paid for by the State Department. The New England Patriots organization was not involved in this flight,” it said.

Trump calls for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran to end the conflict in the Middle East, saying in a social media post Friday that there will be no deal absent “unconditional surrender” from Tehran.

“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” Trump said.

He has said multiple times that whomever takes over leadership of Iran must be to the U.S.’s liking.

Trump signed off the social media post with “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!),” a riff on his longtime campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Iranian athlete can’t safely travel to Italy

The International Paralympic Committee says Iranian athlete Aboulfazl Khatibi won’t compete at the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games because he can’t safely travel to Italy during the intensifying Middle East conflict.

The announcement came just hours before the opening ceremony in Verona.

Khatibi is a cross-country skier and was the only athlete from Iran set to participate in the Games that are beginning less than a week since the United States and Israel launched a military attack against Iran.

‘Kill them wherever you find them,’ Hezbollah command tells fighters

Hezbollah’s military command is calling on the group’s gunmen to fight to the death, saying that the war they are fighting is similar to that fought by one of Shiite Islam’s most important religious figures 13 centuries ago.

The group’s command also said in a statement directed to fighters that they should “defend the nation” to keep Hezbollah’s yellow banner flying.

“Kill them wherever you find them,” the command said, describing the ongoing war as a religious battle similar to the one fought by Imam Hussein in Karbala.

Imam Hussein was killed in a climactic battle in Karbala, which is now part of Iraq, in A.D. 680.

“Karbala is happening again,” the statement said.

German leader wants a functioning Iranian state after the war

Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he doesn’t want to see a “Syrian scenario” in Iran, referring to Syria’s long civil war.

Merz says that “we want this state to be capable of functioning by itself.”

He says his appeal in his discussions with the U.S. and Israel is “to create as quickly as possible the preconditions for this country to be stabilized, for it to get a democratically legitimized government and for it to continue to exist as a state.”

Thousands march and hold prayers in Tehran

Thousands of men and women gathered in Tehran’s streets Friday in a show of defiance and to hold prayers in the open.

Waving clenched fists and Iranian flags as they filed past a poster of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the marchers chanted “We’ll fight, we’ll die, we won’t accept humiliation” and “No compromise, no surrender, destruction of Israel.”

Hassan Fathollahi, 54, said he had brough his children to “make our enemies understand that we and our children will sacrifice our lives for the (Islamic) revolution.”

“We will not give up the blood of our leader. Every single son of Iran is ready to fight America and Israel until victory, God willing,” he said.

UAE says 3 drones hit its territory

Three aerial drones hit the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the country’s Defense Ministry said on X. It did not elaborate on where they fell or any damage caused.

The UAE’s air defenses destroyed nine ballistic missiles and intercepted a further 109 drones on Friday, the ministry added. Since the start of the war, 205 ballistic missiles and 1,184 drones have been detected in UAE territory, with most destroyed, officials said.

IEA chief warns of likely bidding war for gas

The International Energy Agency director says the conflict in Iran has halted exports of Iranian gas to largely Asian markets, a stoppage that if drawn out will likely lead to a bidding war between Europe and Asia and energy prices will soar.

“If the crisis continues this way, the Asian buyers and the European buyers will need to compete for the LNG which will get scarcer and scarcer," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said Friday after meeting with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

“So this will be the challenge for European countries if the crisis continues in the next days or weeks to come," Birol added.

Israel tells people to leave industrial area of Qom

Israel’s military has issued a warning that people should flee an industrial area of Qom, the Shiite seminary city south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Tehran hit by powerful airstrikes

Witnesses say intense airstrikes hit Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Friday afternoon.

Iran says ‘mediation efforts’ ongoing

Iran’s president says that there are “mediation efforts” ongoing about the war in the Middle East.

Masoud Pezeshkian says “some countries” had started mediating, without naming them.

“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity & sovereignty,” the president wrote on X. “Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.”

Iran fires new missiles at Israel

Israel’s military says Iran has launched a new salvo of missiles targeting the country.

Israeli strike in Lebanon kills 5

An Israeli strike in the southern coastal city of Sidon in Lebanon killed five people and wounded seven others, Lebanon’s health ministry says.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military.

As of Thursday evening, 123 people had been killed in Lebanon and 683 wounded in the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It’s not clear how many were civilians.

Azerbaijan pulls all diplomats from Iran

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov says the country will evacuate its diplomats from Iran after the Iranian drone attacks.

Bayramov said the staff of Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran and its Consulate General in Tabriz will return home on orders from Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.

Azerbaijan said Thursday that Iranian drones attacked its exclave of Nakhchivan, wounding four civilians and damaging an airport building in what Aliyev denounced as a “groundless act of terror and aggression.”

Red Cross says ‘hundreds of thousands’ displaced in Lebanon

Hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon have been displaced so far in the dayslong conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

“Across Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of people have had to flee their homes,” said Hachem Osseiran, ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East.

“The intensification of hostilities, coupled with evacuation orders covering entire districts in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley, has sown panic and confusion. Many people have fled, some on foot, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and no clear sense of where to go.”

UK to aid in ‘defending’ Bahrain

The British ambassador to Bahrain says the U.K. would be part of “defending” Bahrain by having Royal Air Force fighter jets flying over the island kingdom as it faces attacks from Iran.

Ambassador Alastair Long made the announcement in an Instagram post.

“Today, I’m delighted to tell to people that the U.K. will be flying RAF jets above Bahrain as a contribution to the defense of Bahrain, one of our closest allies in the whole world,” Long said.

“This matters hugely to the U.K. that we are part of defending Bahrain and making sure it prevails in this terrible attack against it by Iran.”

UN health agency’s Dubai hub beginning to resume operations

The World Health Organization said earlier this week that operations were on hold because of insecurity, airspace closures and restrictions of the Strait of Hormuz.

But WHO’s eastern Mediterranean chief, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, said Friday that after the “temporary pause,” they are resuming as airspace reopens.

Balkhy said that more than 50 emergency supply requests regarding 25 countries and meant to benefit more than 1.5 million people had been hit by the enforced pause. Those included shipments destined for Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Somalia.

She said that “what we’ll be doing over the next few days is to identify now the urgent shipments that need to go out quicker than others.”

UK antisemitism group thanks London police

The Campaign Against Antisemitism says it’s grateful to police “for foiling this alleged plot,” after four men were arrested in and around London on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community.

But the group accused the U.K. government of not taking the threat from Iran seriously enough.

“The U.K. may not be acting against Iran but Iran is acting against us,” it said in a statement.

“The government’s failure to keep its promise to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the main instrument that the Islamic Republic uses to foment antisemitic violence worldwide — has sent the message that support for the brutal Iranian regime and its Jew-hating and West-hating ideology is perfectly acceptable in Britain,” the statement said.

Qatar condemns Iranian attack on Bahrain

Qatar has denounced an Iranian attack on Bahrain that targeted buildings housing elements of its forces there.

Doha says the attack targeted the unified military command of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation bloc in the region.

It says none of the Qatari sailors were hurt and called the assault “a direct threat to its security and stability and the security of the region.”

Lebanon’s prime minister calls for international help

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is calling on the international community to help Lebanon amid the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war.

“A humanitarian disaster is looming” because of huge displacements of people, Salam said.

Salam criticized both Israel and Hezbollah over the current crisis saying that the Lebanese state and people “did not choose this war.”

Speaking to heads of diplomatic missions in Beirut, Salam appealed to the friends of Lebanon to support “us in this endeavor” and called on the international community to help stop Israel’s attacks and spare the country’s infrastructure.

Iran launches a new missile attack

Iranian state television announced a new missile attack, including the Islamic Republic firing off its larger Khorramshahr-4 missiles.

Some Chinese airlines resume flights to Mideast

Air China, China Southern and a few other Chinese carriers are resuming direct flights to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Air China resumed a flight from Beijing to Riyadh Thursday, state media reported.

China is also helping citizens evacuate from the region, saying it received a plane carrying 300 passengers from Dubai on Wednesday.

“We once again remind that the situation in the Middle East remains complex and severe, with considerable uncertainty,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said about the evacuations and flights.

UN rights chief pleads for peace

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, says that “the world urgently needs to see steps to contain and extinguish this blaze.”

He lamented that “instead we are only seeing more inflammatory, bellicose rhetoric, more bombings, more destruction, killings and escalation, that fuels it further.”

Türk is urging the countries involved in the war “to take immediate steps to de-escalate, to give peace a chance.” And he says that other countries should “call clearly on those involved to pull back.”

He’s also “extremely concerned” about the situation in Lebanon following Hezbollah’s strikes on Israel and Israel’s counterstrikes.

Türk said he’s particularly worried about what he described as “blanket, massive displacement orders” by Israel to civilians in Lebanon.

“Obviously, this raises serious concern under international humanitarian law and in particular when it comes to issues around forced transfer," he said.

Israel targeting Lebanon’s capital again

The Israeli military says it’s conducting new strikes on Beirut.

Australian Greens say country part of ‘illegal war’

The Australian Greens party says Australian sailors’ presence aboard the U.S. submarine that torpedoed an Iranian warship made Australia “part of an illegal war.”

Australia’s government confirmed that three Australians were aboard a submarine that sank the Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka this week, killing at least 87 people.

Sen. David Shoebridge, the influential party’s defense spokesperson, told reporters on Friday: “This makes Australia obviously, clearly, unambiguously, part of an illegal war.”

The Australians were aboard the boat as part of the trilateral U.S., Australian and British partnership known as AUKUS that will deliver Australia a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.

Blasts heard in Tel Aviv

The sound of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv, Israel, after the warning about incoming missile fire from Iran, as air defense systems worked to intercept the barrage.

UK police say 4 arrested for aiding Iran

London police say four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community.

The suspects, one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals, have been taken into custody on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force said the men, ages 22, 40, 52 and 55, were arrested at addresses in and around north London shortly after 1 a.m.

The men are suspected on spying on locations and individuals.

“We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,” said Metropolitan Police Commander Helen Flanagan, who is in charge of counterterrorism policing in London.

Israeli military warns of missile fire coming from Iran

The Israeli military is warning its public about incoming missile fire from Iran.

Phone alerts go off in Dubai

Mobile phone alerts sounded just before noon in Dubai, warning of a possible missile attack.

Indonesia holds off on Board of Peace discussions

The Indonesian government is currently holding off on all discussions related to Trump’s Board of Peace as the country focuses on the safety of Indonesian nationals in the Middle East, officials said Friday.

Yvonne Mewengkang, spokesperson for Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs, said “any decision regarding Indonesia’s participation in any international mechanism will be based on the principle of Indonesia’s foreign policy and the most important thing, our national interests.”

More than 519,000 Indonesian nationals live across the Middle East, including 329 in Iran, mostly students.

Indonesia plans to begin evacuating its citizens from Iran on Friday.

3 Australian personnel were on U.S. sub that fired torpedo

Australia’s government revealed on Friday that three Australian personnel were aboard a U.S. submarine that sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean this week, killing at least 87 people.

The Australians were part of the trilateral US, Australian and British AUKUS training program.

Neil James, executive director of the Australian Defense Association policy think tank, says it is “reasonably rare” for Australians embedded with another nation’s military to go to war against a country such as Iran that Australia wasn’t at war with.

James said an Australian would not have fired the torpedo that sank the Iranian ship.

South Korea says it will receive 6 million barrels of oil from UAE

South Korea says it reached an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to receive 6 million barrels of crude oil, aiming to stabilize energy prices spiked by the escalating war in the Middle East.

Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff for South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, said in a briefing Friday that the emergency supplies are intended to curb fuel costs which surged this week.

Iranian semioff

icial news agency says wave of missiles, drones fired at Israel

Iran launched a new wave of missiles and drones targeting Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday morning, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Etihad Airways to restart ‘limited flight schedule’ from Abu Dhabi

Etihad Airways said it is restarting a “limited flight schedule” from its hub in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi starting Friday.

The government-backed carrier has operated some flights in recent days, but its latest announcement suggests it is moving toward more regular operations.

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