Live – Israel says army working to intercept incoming Iranian missiles as it targets Hezbollah in Beirut

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a post on X in the early hours of Thursday that there had been an “attack” on an Italian base in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, but there were no injuries.

“I strongly condemn the attack on the Italian base in Erbil,” wrote Tajani without giving details. “I just spoke with the Italian ambassador to Iraq. Fortunately, all our soldiers are well and safe in the bunker.”

Italy has soldiers in Erbil training Kurdistan security forces as part of an international force.

Drones were shot down on Wednesday over Erbil by the US-led international forces, which are based at Erbil airport, a Kurdish security source said. No casualties were reported, the source said.

A Japanese-flagged container ship One Majesty was damaged while anchored in the Persian Gulf, said Mitsui O.S.K Lines in a statement on Thursday.

All crew members on board were reported safe and the ship remains operational.

The impact cause and extent of the damage is unknown and under investigation, Mitsui said.

“An inspection of the hull revealed partial damage above the waterline. The vessel remains fully operational and seaworthy.”

Crew members felt a shock near the stern and later found damages while the ship was anchored about 60 nautical miles (96 kilometres) southwest of the Strait of Hormuz.

A Mitsui-operated oil tanker also experienced minor damages from unidentified falling objects in the Gulf of Oman. The tanker has left the area and the company is still investigating that incident.

Security force checkpoints in Iran’s capital came under attack for the first time late on Wednesday by suspected drone assault, killing at least 10 people, according to a semi-official news agency.

The Fars news agency, believed to be close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported the attacks. Other Iranian media cited its report.

Gunfire could be heard as continuous airstrikes targeted the city on Wednesday night. The gunfire appeared to come from the checkpoints, which often include members of the all-volunteer Basij force of the Guard and officers of Iran’s police.

It wasn’t clear what kind of drones were used, though the United States is employing a reverse-engineered version of Iran’s Shahed drone in the war.

Israel and the US military’s Central Command did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks.

Bahrain said on Thursday it arrested four people for allegedly spying for Iran, noting that a fifth person has been identified, but remains at large.

The Interior Ministry accused all five of having “used high-resolution photography equipment to photograph and record coordinates of vital and important locations” on behalf of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The ministry alleged that material had been sent to the Guard using encrypted software, likely to be attacked in Tehran’s indiscriminate attacks across the region. 

Iran has been able to load an estimated 18.5 million barrels of oil for shipment since the US and Israel launched their war on Tehran on 28 February, according to an analyst at commodities firm Kpler.

Of those barrels, 16.5 million were loaded in the Persian Gulf at Kharg Island, with the rest coming from its Jask terminal on the Gulf of Oman.

Those shipments broadly appeared bound for China, a crucial trading partner for Tehran, who purchase some 80% of the country’s oil exports. 

The IDF said it was working to intercept a missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.

The warning came as the Israeli military also announced that it was carrying out strikes in the Dahieh neighbourhood in southern Beirut, targeting what it says are Iran-backed Hezbollah positions.

“Within 30 minutes, the IDF struck 10 Hezbollah terror headquarters in the Dahieh area, including intelligence HQs, a Radwan unit HQ and additional command centres,” said the IDF in a post on X.

“During the strikes, the IDF eliminated dozens of Hezbollah terrorists while they were preparing launches toward Israel and dismantled dozens of launchers ready to fire.”

Other overnight missile launches from Iran sent Israelis hurrying to shelters in areas from the very southern tip of the country, to the Galilee and the northern border with Lebanon, where sirens were also sounded to warn of drone and rocket attacks from Hezbollah.

Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building on Thursday in the small nation, injuring two people.

Kuwait has come under attack daily, among other Gulf Arab nations in the region, as Iran continues to retaliate against US and Israeli attacks, which started on 28 February.

Tehran insists its attacks on neighbouring Gulf countries, most of which host US bases, will continue as long as they are used as a firing platform to target Iran. 

A container ship off Dubai in the Persian Gulf came under attack early on Thursday, sparking a small fire, the British military said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said the attack happened just before dawn.

It added that an “unknown projectile” hit the vessel as it was some 65 kilometres off the coast of Dubai’s Jebel Ali port. It added that the crew of the vessel were safe.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 (€86.6) a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120 (€104).

Oil prices shot up more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the chokehold Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil exports flow.

US benchmark crude oil jumped to about $95 (€82.2) a barrel.

An attack on Iraq’s Basra port early on Thursday killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country’s oil terminals, officials said.

Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday.

Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted ships in the ship-to-ship transfer area of the Basra port on the Persian Gulf. He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone, or a missile.

Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack. He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.

Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization has identified the two tankers as the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and the tanker Zefyros, flagged in Malta.