US-Iran ‘war’ reside updates: Iranian strike kills 9 in Israel’s Beit Shemesh; USS Abraham Lincoln ‘targeted’

Pope Leo has said that he is following events after US-Israeli strikes against Iran with “deep concern” and made an appeal to stop what he called a “spiral of violence”.

“I address a ‌heartfelt appeal to the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes ⁠an irreparable abyss,” ⁠said the pope.

“Stability and peace are not built through mutual ⁠threats or through weapons … but ⁠only through reasonable, ⁠genuine, and responsible dialogue,” the pope said during his weekly address to ‌pilgrims in St Peter’s Square after a Sunday ‌prayer.

The UK Foreign Office has advised against “all however important journey to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE”.

“If you’re a British nationwide in these nations, you must shelter in place and register your presence,” it adds in a post on X.

The US embassy in Bahrain has called on US citizens to leave hotels in Manama after US government personnel moved, amid fears that hotels may be targeted in an Iranian attack.

The embassy statement published on X said an attack on the Crowne Plaza hotel in Manama that caused injuries was confirmed.

A Palau-flagged oil tanker under U.S. sanctions was hit on Sunday off Oman’s Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the country’s maritime security centre said, without specifying what hit the vessel.

The 20-person crew of the Skylight tanker was evacuated after the attack, which occurred about 5 nautical miles north of Musandam’s Khasab Port, on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Oman Maritime Security Centre said in a post on X.

Reuters reported injuries of varying severity to four of the crew, composed of 15 Indian and five Iranian citizens.

Skylight’s registered owner is Sea Force Inc., and it is managed by Red Sea Ship Management LLC, according to LSEG data.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it is aware of “significant military activity” in the “Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, North Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz”.

In its latest advisory, it said the maritime security environment in the region remains highly volatile, with ongoing regional military activity further heightening the threat to commercial shipping.

“There is a significant military presence and activity across the region. Mariners should be aware of the increased risk of miscalculation or misidentification, particularly in proximity to military units and other sensitive maritime facilities and infrastructure,” it said.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the “Crown Plaza Hotel” in the capital, Manama, has been targeted in an attack.

The strike resulted in material damages “but no loss of life”, the statement added.

US air defences have intercepted a drone over a military base near Erbil International Airport, Al Jazeera reported, quoting security sources.

For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, sirens warning of an incoming drone are sounding in Jerusalem. Experts quoted by the New York Times say the unmanned craft can be harder to detect than standard missiles and have occasionally been able to weave through Israel’s air defences

Quoting the Tehran Province Red Crescent Society, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) says Tehran has been hit by 60 attacks in 24 hours, leaving 57 people dead.

Israel’s military says it has been targeting the capital, with smoke seen billowing above the city in pictures.

North Korea’s foreign ministry ⁠spokesperson said that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran are “illegal aggression” ⁠and a ⁠violation of national ⁠sovereignty⁠.

The US involvement ‌was “within the range of expectations”, the spokesperson said, calling it an inevitable outcome given the “hegemonic and gangster-like” nature of the United States, the spokesperson was quoted as saying by state ⁠media Korean ⁠Central News Agency.

The “war of aggression” by the US and Israel ⁠is unacceptable under any circumstances, ⁠the statement said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has issued a statement, saying the army is “carrying out intensive strikes targeting sites belonging to the Iranian regime”.

“We will organise a continuous air bridge to carry out a powerful attack on targets in Tehran,” he wrote on X.

Alireza ⁠Arafi, a ⁠cleric member of the Guardian Council, has been appointed as ⁠the jurist member of ⁠Iran’s Leadership Council, a body tasked with fulfilling the ‌supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts elects a new leader, Al Jazeera reported.

⁠Arafi will be ⁠part of the ⁠temporary Leadership Council alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian ‌and Supreme Court Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death as a “cynical murder” that violates all standards of human morality and international law, news agency TASS reported.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey told the BBC that around 300 UK armed forces personnel were “inside a number of hundred yards” of drones and missiles that Iran fired at a US military base in Bahrain, while two ballistic missiles were “fired within the route of Cyprus” on Saturday.

“It demonstrates how our bases, our personnel, army and civilians in the intervening time are in danger with a regime that’s more and more indiscriminate, widespread and uncontrolled within the assaults it is mounting,” he said.

IEA director general Fatih Birol said on X that the International Energy Agency is “actively” monitoring events in the Middle East and the potential implications for global energy markets and trade flows.

“Markets have been well supplied to date,” Birol said, adding that he is in contact with ministers from major producers in the region.

The Israeli military said it “will not forget” the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, following the joint US-Israel strikes on Iran.

“We will not forget the seventh of October, and we will continue to pursue Israel’s enemies — from the architects of the attack to the terrorists who took part in the massacre,” Effie Defrin, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), wrote on X.

Explosions have been heard constantly across the Iranian capital, Tehran, Al Jazeera reported. Ambulance sirens can also be heard in the streets of Tehran.

Iran’s top security official, Ari Larijani, has issued a warning against the US and Israel.

“Yesterday Iran fired missiles at the United States and Israel, and they did hurt. Today we will hit them with a force that they have never experienced before,” he said on X.

Three vessels operated by the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) were stopped on Sunday by Iran from proceeding towards the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating tensions in West Asia, the ARY News reported.

According to ARY News, orders were issued regarding the ships Karachi, Lahore and Khairpur, which had set sail to transport oil. Sources told the broadcaster that the vessels Lahore and Khairpur have been instructed to remain at Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates, while the vessel Karachi has been directed to anchor at Gwadar port in Pakistan.

All three ships were carrying Pakistani crew members at the time, the report said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued warnings that the Strait of Hormuz is closed to all maritime traffic, including commercial and naval vessels.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey said Sunday that “few individuals will mourn” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the British government’s first public response to the Iranian supreme leader’s death in US-Israeli strikes.

“Iran and the regime he is led for therefore lengthy, it is a supply of evil, murdering its personal residents and sponsoring and exporting terror, together with to nations like Britain,” Healey told Sky News.

He added that “the priority now, in fact, is that this regime is lashing out… in an more and more indiscriminate and widespread method, and folks will probably be actually involved that it is not simply army targets”.

At least nine people were killed, and about two dozen were wounded in violent clashes with police and paramilitary forces on Sunday after hundreds of protesters stormed the US Consulate in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, authorities said.

The violence came hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran and killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Police and officials at a hospital in Karachi said at least 25 people were also wounded in the clashes and some of them were in critical condition.

Hamas on Sunday mourned Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after his death in what it described as a “heinous” US-Israeli attack.

“We in Hamas mourn the passing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He supplied all types of political, diplomatic and army assist to our individuals, our trigger, and our resistance,” the Palestinian Islamist movement said in a statement.

“The US and the fascist occupation authorities bear full accountability for this blatant aggression and heinous crime towards the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to for its severe repercussions on the safety and stability of the area.”

Israel has released the footage of its air force’s large-scale strikes in Tehran, saying it struck the headquarters of the Iranian “terror regime”.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that avenging the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes was a right and obligation of the Islamic Republic.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its legit responsibility and proper to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime,” said Pezeshkian in a statement carried by state TV.

Residents in Riyadh heard loud explosions in the east of the Saudi capital on Sunday, as Iran presses on with a second day of retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.

Residents in eastern Riyadh told AFP they heard several loud bangs and saw smoke rising, with correspondents also hearing the explosions.