Iran has continued to launch widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf states, and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes, even as U.S. and Israeli warplanes pummel military and other targets across Iran.
The U.S. military confirmed on Friday that all six crew members of an American KC-135 refueling plane were killed when it crashed in Iraq.
With growing global concerns about a possible energy crisis, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, hovered around $100 per barrel. Brent prices are about 40% higher than when Israel and the United States launched the war on Feb. 28.
In the latest sign of unease from some close U.S. allies, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a “convincing plan” on how to end the war. He spoke alongside the prime ministers of Norway and Canada at military exercises in Norway.
In an interview with Fox News, U.S. President Donald Trump said the war would end “when I feel it in my bones.”
Explosion rocks area of mass demonstration
The explosion in Tehran rocked the Ferdowsi Square area midday, where thousands had gathered for an annual Quds Day rally in which they chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.”
Israel had issued a warning on a Farsi-language X account for people to clear the area shortly before the blast. But few Iranians would have seen it, as authorities have almost completely shut down the internet since the start of the war. Footage from the scene showed people chanting “God is greatest,” as smoke rose in the area.
The Israeli military later posted a second message in Farsi, noting the head of Iran’s judiciary was at the rally and criticizing Iran for blocking many from seeing their warning.
The hard-liner who leads Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, had been giving an interview on state television at the demonstration when the strike happened. His bodyguards encircled him, as he raised his fist and said Iran “under this rain and missiles will never withdraw.”
Senior security official Ali Larijani told Iranian media covering the rally that the suspected Israeli attack was a “sign of its desperation.”
US says 15,000 targets struck in Iran since the start of the war
Israel had earlier announced another wave of strikes in Iran targeting infrastructure, and said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in the last 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production sites.
The Israeli military said it has struck more than 7,600 sites in Iran and more than 1,100 in Lebanon in the war. Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that the air force had struck an Iranian intelligence directorate while senior officials were present, as well as other command centers and missile production and storage sites.
In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck, which is more than 1,000 a day since the war began.
He also sought to address concerns about the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, telling reporters: “We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it.”
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that the U.S. military has “made it a priority to target Iran’s minelaying enterprise.” Iran has mainly used missiles and drones to disrupt traffic in the strategic waterway.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Thursday vowed to continue the attacks and keep the strait closed in his first public statement since succeeding his father, who was killed in the opening day of the war. Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking over leadership and released a written statement.
Hegseth said Khamenei “is wounded and likely disfigured,” without providing evidence or elaborating. Israel suspects Khamenei was wounded at the start of the war.
In a social media post hours earlier, Trump had said “watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” while claiming that Iran’s military had been decimated and that its leaders had been “wiped from the face of the earth.”
New Iranian attacks across the region
Iran continued its daily attacks on oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia said that it downed nearly 50 drones.
In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the region of Sohar, the Oman News Agency reported.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center was damaged by debris from what authorities called a “successful interception.” DIFC is an economic free zone for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, home to exclusive restaurants and nightclubs.
Iran said earlier this week that it would target banks and financial institutions, after an airstrike hit a bank in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Oscar Austin shot down an Iranian ballistic missile over Turkey on Friday, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity in order to discuss ongoing military operations. It was the third such interception over the NATO member in the last two weeks.
Residents in the southern Turkish city of Adana reported hearing a loud explosion and sirens sounding at Incirlik Air Base, which is used by U.S. forces.
Fighting escalates between Israel and Hezbollah
At least eight people were killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Friday. Nine others were wounded, the ministry added. The toll could rise as rescuers search the rubble.
The ministry said 773 people, including more than 100 children and 62 women, have been killed in Lebanon in the last 10 days of the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. More than 1,900 people have been wounded, it said.
Nearly 800,000 have been internally displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Iranian authorities say that more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. The U.S. has lost at least 13 service members, while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
Nearly 60 people were wounded in northern Israel after the Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said that it fired rockets toward the area and at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Almost all the injuries were described as very minor.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli strikes so far were “just the beginning” and warned that Lebanon’s government “will pay an increasing price for the damage to Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah.”
All six crew of US refueling plane confirmed dead after crash
U.S. Central Command said the KC-135 crash in Iraq, in which all six airmen died, wasn’t related to friendly or hostile fire, and that two aircraft were involved, including one that landed safely.
The KC-135 is the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as part of the U.S. military’s operations against Iran. Last week, three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire.
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Rising reported from Bangkok, Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Sam Mednik in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this story.