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How US-Israel strikes are reshaping Iran’s military and leadership

How US-Israel strikes are reshaping Iran’s military and leadership
By Ted Regencia, Priyanka Shankar, Fiona Kelliher, Tim Hume, Stephen Quillen, Alma Milisic, Enes Abuomer, Mariamne Everett and Caolán Magee
Published On 5 Mar 2026

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5 Mar 2026 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

The live page is now closed.

If you’d like to read more about the US decision to attack Iran, you can find the latest updates here.

You can also read more about the human impact of the joint US-Israeli attack on Iranians living in Tehran here.

 

5 Mar 2026 - 23:55
 (23:55 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap of the main developments today:

  • At least 330,000 people have been forcibly displaced across the Middle East amid multiple ongoing conflicts, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said. That includes at least 100,000 people estimated to have fled Tehran in recent days, more than 84,000 in Lebanon and roughly 118,000 people in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • US Central Command says it has struck approximately 200 targets in Iran over the past 72 hours including deeply buried ballistic missile launchers and at least 30 Iranian vessels.
  • Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announces what it said was a combined drone and missile attack in Tel Aviv and areas in central Israel.
  • The Republican-led US House of Representatives has voted 219 to 212 rejecting an effort to stop President Donald Trump’s war on Iran and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorised by Congress.
  • Trump said he wants to be involved in choosing the next supreme leader of Iran, reiterating his goal of giving rise to a new leadership that is friendly to the US within the Iranian ruling system.
  • Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has warned the country is in a “state of near-emergency” economically as the Middle East war threatens to drive up prices.
  • Iran’s government has condemned a US and Israeli strike on the Azadi Sports Complex, a 12,000-seat stadium in the outskirts of Tehran, calling it a violation of international law and the Olympic Charter.
  • Trump has also renewed his threats to topple the government of Cuba, stating that US action there could come after his administration completes its war against Iran.
5 Mar 2026 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Saudi and UAE defence ministers speak on regional crisis

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Defence Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and Dubai Crown Prince, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum spoke on Thursday about the deepening regional crisis.

The leaders “condemned the aggressive attacks” that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and all other Gulf nations have faced over the past week from Iran.

5 Mar 2026 - 23:35
 (23:35 GMT)
Developing

Kuwait: Debris from the missile caused minimum damage

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence has now said that debris from the intercepted missile led only to some small damage.

5 Mar 2026 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)
Houthi

Kuwait repels missile attack

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense has said that the country’s air defenses have repelled a missile attack.

The missile, the ministry said, had breached the country’s airspace.

5 Mar 2026 - 23:24
 (23:24 GMT)
Houthi

US embassy in Kuwait to evacuate: CBS

CBS, the American broadcaster, is citing anonymous government sources to report that the US is evacuating its embassy in Kuwait.

The embassy had already been shut after it had been targeted in an Iranian strike. The US embassy in Riyadh and the US consulate in Dubai have also been targeted.

5 Mar 2026 - 23:20
 (23:20 GMT)
Houthi

Bahrain sounds sirens, asks people to shelter

Sirens can be heard in Bahrain, as the country’s Ministry of Interior has issued an alert to citizens and residents to head to the nearest safe place.

We’ll bring you more as this situation develops.

 

5 Mar 2026 - 23:10
 (23:10 GMT)

Analysis suggests US behind school strike that killed at least 165: Report

Evidence assembled by The New York Times suggests a strike that hit an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab were carried out by the US.

The newspaper reports that satellite imagery, social media posts and verified videos indicate the school building was severely damaged by a precision strike at roughly the same time as attacks on an adjacent naval facility operated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iran held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 schoolgirls and staff killed in the strike. US officials have not confirmed responsibility for the strike, and no side has publicly claimed it.

According to The New York Times, statements by US officials about strikes on naval targets near the Strait of Hormuz suggest US forces were the most likely to have carried out the attack.

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a briefing that US forces were conducting strikes along southern Iran at the time. A map shown during the briefing indicated an area including Minab had been targeted during the early phase of the operation.

Caine also said Israeli forces had largely been operating farther north in Iran, according to the report.

5 Mar 2026 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)
Explainer

‘Good targets’: What’s LUCAS, the US drone modelled on Iran’s Shahed

At a media briefing on Thursday on the US-Israel war on Iran, Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, referred to a drone that the US military has been using in the conflict: LUCAS.

While drones are now a staple in modern warfare, and Iran has been launching hundreds of drones at its Gulf neighbours and Israel since these hostilities broke out, LUCAS is different: It’s actually modelled on the Iranian Shahed drone, only “Made in America”.

As Cooper explained in the briefing, US authorities had captured a Shahed drone, “pulled out its guts”, and redesigned it into the US LUCAS, which is now being used on the battlefield for the first time since its makeover.

It costs about $35,000, and is a kamikaze drone — meant to strike its target, even if it gets destroyed itself in the process.

It can carry a range of payloads and communication systems, and explodes on contact with its target.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:51
 (22:51 GMT)

Etihad airways to resume limited commercial flights from March 6

Etihad Airways will resume limited commercial flights between March 6 and 19 to and from Abu Dhabi and key destinations including Cairo, Delhi, London, Frankfurt, New York, Paris, Moscow, Toronto and Zurich, the company said in a statement.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Cluster munitions appear to detonate over central Israel

By Rory Challands

Reporting from Amman

A short while ago, Iran’s IRGC announced what it said was a combined drone and missile attack in Tel Aviv and areas in central Israel.

They said they included in the attack package the Kheibar Shekan, with a cluster munition warhead.

We have seen videos of what look like cluster munitions detonating over central Israel and raining down submunitions across a pretty wide area. There are no casualties that are being reported.

Kheibar Shaken means “the fortress buster”. It’s a pretty new weapon in Iran that has only been operational since 2022, and it’s quite sophisticated. It has a manoeuvrable warhead that – when in its descent phase – opens up so that about 20 submunitions come out of it, each with about 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds) of explosives.

When it’s spread over a big area, it can cause a significant amount of destruction.

Cluster munitions are banned under an international treaty, but only if the countries themselves have signed that convention – and neither Israel nor Iran has signed.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:36
 (22:36 GMT)
Developing

Hegseth denies Iran war is sowing regional chaos

Hegseth has also pushed back on criticisms that the US and Israel have created regional instability, saying “nothing could be further from the truth”.

Countries including the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are saying, “‘We’ll shoot with you, we’ll fly with you, we’ll defend with you'”, the defence secretary claimed.

“It’s firming up the unity of the resistance,” he said, adding of the war’s scope: “This idea that it’s expanding … it’s actually simplifying in a number of ways.”

5 Mar 2026 - 22:31
 (22:31 GMT)
Developing

Hegseth says US objectives in Iran war have not expanded

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there has been no expansion of US objectives in the conflict, responding to reports that President Donald Trump wanted a say in Iran’s future leadership.

“Our objectives have not expanded,” he said.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)
Houthi

‘There will come a moment’ for Iranians to protest

When asked to comment on the future of Iranian protests, Hegseth has claimed that “no one’s done more than President Trump to reopen the opportunity for those who want to free Iran to do so”.

“Don’t go out and protest while bombs are dropping inside Tehran,” he continued.

But “there will come a moment where he determines – or they determine – it’s time to seize that advantage,” the defence secretary added.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

Iran condemns strike on Tehran’s Azadi Sports Complex

Iran’s government has condemned a US and Israeli strike on the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran.

In a post on X, Iranian officials said a strike hit the 12,000-seat stadium at the complex, describing it as a site deeply embedded in the country’s collective memory.

Iran’s sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, visited the site and called the attack a violation of international law and the Olympic Charter, urging global accountability.

Iran said the stadium was heavily damaged in the strike. The United States and Israel have not commented on the claim.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:26
 (22:26 GMT)
Houthi

US says 200 Iranian targets hit in past 72 hours

US Central Command says it has struck approximately 200 targets in Iran over the past 72 hours. According to CENTCOM, this includes:

  • In the last hour alone, B-2 bombers dropped dozens of bunker-buster bombs targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers.
  • The US struck what it described as Iran’s equivalent of a space command.
  • Iranian ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent since the first day of the conflict.
  • Sunk more than 30 Iranian vessels so far, including a drone carrier ship that is now on fire.
  • The next phase of the operation will focus on dismantling Iran’s missile production capability.
5 Mar 2026 - 22:18
 (22:18 GMT)
Developing

US will control timeline of Iran war: Hegseth

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the United States has both the resources and the determination to sustain its military campaign against Iran.

Speaking about the conflict, Hegseth said Iran was miscalculating if it believed the United States could not maintain the operation.

“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this – which is a really bad miscalculation,” he said.

“Our munitions are full up and our will is iron-clad, which means our timeline is ours to control,” he said.

“The dumb politically correct wars of the past are the opposite of what we are doing here,” he added.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:16
 (22:16 GMT)
Houthi

‘Iran hoping we can’t sustain this; they’re wrong’ : Hegseth

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran was hoping that “we can’t sustain this”, adding that this was a mistaken assessment on the part of Tehran.

“We’ve got no shortage of will … we’ve got no shortage of munitions,” he said, addressing a media briefing on the US-Israel war on Iran.

“Our capabilities: We’ve only just started … and we have no shortage of authorities,” he added.

5 Mar 2026 - 22:14
 (22:14 GMT)
Houthi

US has no shortage of munitions for Iran campaign: Hegseth

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the United States has the resources and determination to sustain its military campaign against Iran.

Speaking about the conflict, Hegseth said Iran was miscalculating if it believed the United States could not maintain the operation.

“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this – which is a really bad miscalculation”, he said.

Hegseth added that the United States had both the will and the military capacity to continue.

“We have no shortage of munitions – our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to.”

5 Mar 2026 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

Displaced twice in four days, families stranded on Beirut’s streets

Hundreds of displaced people gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square after Israeli evacuation warnings prompted residents to flee the city’s southern suburbs.

Among them was Aliyeh Hijazi, a 66-year-old mother of 10 from southern Lebanon who has been displaced twice in just four days.

Hijazi said she fled her hometown and spent 17 hours on the road trying to reach safety in Sidon, travelling with children who were crying from hunger. After a night in Saadiyat, she briefly found refuge with relatives in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

But when new evacuation warnings were issued on Thursday, she was forced to leave again.

“They said they were going to strike Dahieh, so we left, and here we are sitting in the street,” she said.

Now stranded in central Beirut with her husband and one daughter, she says she does not know where her other children are.

“I have 10 children … each one is staying somewhere different,” she said.

Around them, families sat on the pavement with bags and blankets, uncertain where they would go next.