Iran Revolutionary Guards spokesman killed in US-Israel strike

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Friday that their spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini was killed in US and Israeli strikes, marking another high-level casualty in the conflict.

Naini "was martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn," the Guards announced on their Sepah News website.

Iranian state media also reported that Naini, who had served as the IRGC's spokesperson since 2024, was killed during the strikes, though there has been no immediate reaction from Israel or the US.

Naini was quoted earlier in the day rebuffing a claim from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran’s missile production had been rendered inoperable.

Iran launches barrage of missiles

Iran launched multiple rounds of missiles towards Israel late Thursday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the Islamic republic has been "decimated" by war.

Israel's military said it had identified three rounds of missile fire in the hour and a half preceding midnight (2200 GMT), and another a few hours later.

AFP reporters heard several loud blasts over Jerusalem as air raid sirens rang out across the city during one of the earlier attacks.

The Magen David Adom emergency services reported no casualties, but police said there was damage in several locations.

Israeli media said shrapnel hit the northern city of Haifa and an educational institution in its suburbs, causing damage but no casualties. Earlier on Thursday, media reports said an oil refinery in Haifa had been hit.

In a press conference on Thursday evening, Netanyahu said Israel and the United States were "winning" the war that began when the allies launched strikes on Iran.

"We are taking action to destroy the industries that make it possible to build missiles. Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles," the veteran Israeli leader said.

Netanyahu said Iran is being "decimated" and it is unclear who is in charge, as Tehran sent jitters through global markets by turning its sights on Gulf oil and gas facilities.

Nearly three weeks into the Middle East war launched by Israel and the United States, Netanyahu said the Islamic republic no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, renewed his call meanwhile for a truce between Israel and Iran ally Hezbollah and the opening of negotiations.

With no ceasefire on the horizon, Lebanon's health ministry said the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon and on Beirut's southern suburbs has surpassed 1,000.

Netanyahu, speaking at a press conference, hailed his cooperation with President Trump and said "We are winning and Iran is being decimated."

"This war ending a lot faster than people think," he said without providing a specific timeframe.

His comments came after Washington said there was no deadline to end the war launched against Iran on February 28.

Netanyahu said he was "not sure who's running Iran right now". "Mojtaba, the replacement ayatollah, has not shown his face," he said, in a reference to Iran's newly appointed supreme leader, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

"We're seeing cracks, and we're trying to propagate them as fast as we can, not only in the top command. We're seeing cracks in the field," Netanyahu said.

While Israel and the United States expressed confidence in their war efforts, energy markets were left reeling by Iranian attacks on the world's largest liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar and refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Oil markets have already been shaken by Iran's chokehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Benchmark Brent surged six percent to $119 a barrel before falling back to $110, while European gas prices rose nearly a third, after Iranian missiles hit Qatar's huge Ras Laffan natural gas complex in retaliation for Israel's air raid on the South Pars gas field on Wednesday.

The latest attack on Ras Laffan caused "extensive damage" that QatarEngery said could cost $20 billion a year in lost revenue and take five years to repair.

Iran also struck elsewhere in the region, with a drone crashing into the Samref refinery in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu, the Saudi defence ministry said.

The Saudi government said it reserved the "right to take military actions" in response.

In Kuwait, drone attacks sparked fires at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, which have a combined capacity of 800,000 barrels per day.

- 'It's coordinated' -

Trump indicated he did not know in advance about Israel's raid on South Pars, which supplies about 70 percent of Iran's domestic needs. But he said he had told Netanyahu not to hit Iranian gas fields again.

"We get along great. It's coordinated, but on occasion, he'll do something" that Washington opposes, Trump said.

Netanyahu insisted Israel acted alone with the strike.

The Israeli premier also rejected suggestions he had dragged Trump into the conflict, implying he was the junior partner in the joint assault on Iran.

"Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?" Netanyahu said. "He didn't need any convincing."

Trump warned that the United States would "blow up" South Pars if Tehran did not stop attacking Qatar but he said there was no current plan to send ground troops into Iran.

Iran responded with defiance, with the military's Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command vowing the "complete destruction" of Gulf energy infrastructure if the Israeli attack was repeated.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there would be "ZERO restraint" if Iran's infrastructure was hit again.

Amid growing concern over the economic fallout from the conflict, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands said they would "contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz."

But they gave few details.

Rome and Berlin later insisted any action would only happen if there was a ceasefire.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the "reckless escalation" in attacks and called for "direct talks between the Americans and Iranians."

Britain warned that "attacks on critical infrastructure risked pushing the region further into crisis."

India and China also expressed new concern about oil supplies which flow through the Strait of Hormuz.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said there is no timeframe for ending the war, but "we're very much on track" and Trump would choose when to end fighting. "It will be at the president's choosing, ultimately, where we say, 'Hey, we've achieved what we need to,'" he said.

Gulf states responds to attacks

Emirati and Kuwaiti air defences were responding to missile fire early Friday, authorities in the Gulf states said, while Saudi Arabia intercepted drone attacks.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain's interior ministry said that shrapnel from an "Iranian aggression" caused a fire at a warehouse, which was brought under control and resulted in no injuries.

The ministry earlier said air raid sirens were activated.

In Kuwait, an army statement said air defences were "responding to hostile missile and drone threats", while the UAE state media reported "incoming missile and drone threats from Iran".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency that they had targeted US forces in the UAE's Al-Dhafra air base as well as sites in Israel with missiles and drones.

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said that within less than two hours, its forces had "intercepted and destroyed" 10 drones in the country's east and another in the north.

Iran Guards say missile production continues

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that the Islamic republic has continued to produce missiles despite the war with Israel and the United States.

"Our missile industry deserves a perfect score... and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production," Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said, quoted by the Fars news agency.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles".

- UAE arrests -

UAE authorities have arrested at least five members of a "terrorist network" linked to Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, state media said.

The alleged network had "sought to infiltrate the national economy" as part of "a pre-established strategic plan in coordination with external parties linked to Hezbollah and Iran", the official WAM news agency said, citing the UAE State Security Apparatus.

- Tehran strikes -

The Israeli military said it launched a wave of strikes on Tehran, following Iranian missile fire at Israel overnight.

A military statement said Israeli forces had "begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran."

- Macron says eyeing UN action on Hormuz -

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country planned to talk with permanent members of the UN Security Council about establishing a UN framework -- once the ongoing exchange of fire had ended -- to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

"We have initiated an exploratory process, and we will see in the coming days whether it stands a chance of succeeding," he told reporters in Brussels following a European summit.

- EU migration fears -

European Union leaders vowed to "fully mobilise" to prevent "uncontrolled migratory movements" towards the 27-nation bloc, as the Iran war sparked concerns of a repeat of a 2015 migration crisis.

"To avoid a similar situation, the EU is ready to fully mobilise its diplomatic, legal, operational and financial tools to prevent uncontrolled migratory movements to the EU and preserve security in Europe," the leaders said after talks at a summit in Brussels.

- Syria 'harmony' -
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he is working to keep his country out of the war. "It is important to remember that Syria has always been an arena of conflict and strife during the past 15 years and before that, but today it is in harmony with all neighbouring countries regionally and internationally," he said, adding that Damascus stood "in full solidarity with the Arab states".

- Crude prices dip -
Crude prices slipped, after US and Israeli leaders said that Israel would no longer target any more of Tehran's energy infrastructure.

- Qatar gas exports -
Qatar's energy minister said attacks on the country's energy installations would slash its export capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 17 percent and take three to five years to repair.

"We will be compelled to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts," Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in a statement.

- Hormuz 'blackmail' -

Netanyahu said attempts to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz would fail. "The death cult in Iran is trying to blackmail the world by closing a key international maritime route, the Strait of Hormuz. It won't work," he said.

- US airbase in Germany -

Iran said it had asked Germany to clarify the role of the Ramstein airbase in the war. "We have asked them to clarify or explain regarding the role of Ramstein," Tehran's ambassador to Germany Majid Nili told AFP, saying that "the role of Ramstein is not officially clear for us".