Iran war: New head Khamenei vows to avenge Larijani killing

The Israeli military carried out strikes against more than five Iranian navy missile boats in the Caspian Sea, according to Israeli media reports citing officials. 

The Caspian Sea is located between Iran to the south, Azerbaijan to the west and Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to the east.

There has been no official government or military confirmation of the strikes. 

The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, has urged Iran to guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a top priority for Europe.

An EU official told the Reuters news agency that Kallas delivered the message in a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Kallas "called on Iran to cease all attacks on critical infrastructure in the region," according to the unnamed official.

She also "stressed that the EU supports de-escalation and a diplomatic solution to the war."

The conversation took place before Iran executed a European citizen, an act the EU condemned.

Qatar Energy, the state-owned oil and gas company, said on social media that its Ras Laffan energy hub sustained "extensive damage" in missile attacks on Wednesday.

"Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires, as extensive damage has been caused," the firm said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Qatar called the attack on the gas facility on its north coast a "direct threat to its national security."

"Qatar expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the brutal Iranian attack targeting Ras Laffan Industrial City... Qatar considers this assault a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security," the Gulf state's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Iran's massive offshore South Pars natural gas field also came under attack, sending Brent crude futures surging to nearly $110 a barrel.

Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah shot a rocket from Lebanon towards Israel's south, Israeli media reported.

This would be the first time the group fired a projectile more than 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) into Israel's borders, triggering sirens in the northern Negev area, a region that has usually seen rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip over the past 25 years.

The rocket had been intercepted with no injuries reported, according to Israeli media.

Israel will continue hitting the Iranian regime's top officials, Israeli military spokesperson Effi Defrin said.

"In the past 24 hours we have continued to hunt down the regime's bosses," Defrin told Israeli media, citing the killings of security head Ali Larijani and Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.

"We will continue to hunt down the regime's heads, the eliminations are not going to stop," Defrin added.

The spokesperson also said Israel will continue targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. 

• Israel killed Iran's intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, a day after killing influential security chief Ali Larijani. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called Khatib's killing "an unfair assassination."

• In a rare written message, Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed to retaliate for the killing of senior security official Ali Larijani, saying, "All blood has its price that the criminal murderers of the martyrs must pay soon."

• Iran's Pars gas field was hit, prompting Tehran to announce it would respond with attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf. That sent oil prices rallying, with Brent spiking above $108 a barrel.

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Bundestag his government still had "many questions" about the US-Israel war on Iran, saying there was "no convincing plan," that "Washington did not consult us," and that "we would have advised against taking this course of action."

• Israel hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the heaviest airstrikes in decades, and also targeted bridges in southern Lebanon that Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah used to smuggle weapons. Iran-backed Hezbollah claimed new rocket attacks on Israeli positions, and Lebanon's Health Ministry reported 968 people killed since the escalation earlier this month.

Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE have invested, or promised to invest, trillions around the world, everywhere from America to Africa. The Iran war may see their money spent closer to home.

Read more in this DW analysis by Cathrin Schaer.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei voiced condolences for the family of security head Ali Larijani, who was killed in an Israeli strike.

"Undoubtedly, the assassination of such a person shows the extent of his importance and the hatred of the enemies of Islam towards him," Khamenei said in a written statement published in Iranian media, while also vowing revenge.

"All blood has its price that the criminal murderers of the martyrs must pay soon," the statement said. 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi said the organization received information from Iran and Russia that the Bushehr nuclear site had been hit by a drone.

"The reactors have not been affected and there are no casualties," Grossi told reporters, adding that the IAEA was not able to independently confirm the damage.

"We are looking at images but it doesn’t seem to be very significant," he said, adding that attacks on nuclear facilities should always be avoided.

The US government is temporarily easing shipping rules to counter rising energy prices.

The White House says the Jones Act, which limits shipping between US ports to American‑made ships, will be suspended for 60 days. US-flagged ships are generally more expensive to operate than foreign ones.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt says the move will help oil, gas, fertilizer, and coal move more freely as the war in Iran disrupts global markets and slows traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The move is "just another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the US military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury," Leavitt said.

The US is a net exporter of oil, but fuel prices have risen significantly in the country, and the rest of the world, since the start of the war.

The Israeli military destroyed two bridges above southern Lebanon's Litani River, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

According to a statement, Katz alleged that the bridges were used for smuggling weapons and for the mobilization of militants belonging to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

"It's a clear message to the Lebanese government that we will not allow such a reality," Katz said.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said any expansion of the war between Iran, the US and Israel could have "real potential for escalation."

According to Germany's top diplomat, the effects of such an escalation could be felt worldwide.

Wadephul said the supply of agricultural fertilizer from the region "i sso essential that a prolonged absence would threaten a food crisis in large parts of Africa." 

Speaking about the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran, Wadephul said an attempt must be made with the US and Israel to "find a point at which the military goals" of the two countries have been achieved, before then turning to de-escalation. 

The German minister also said Europe "can and should" play a role in establishing security for the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf states.

Three private jets parked at Israel's largest international airport suffered "severe" damage due to hits by debris froman Iranian missile attack, the Israel Airport Authority said on Wednesday. 

No injuries were reported.

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is facing questions in a US Senate hearing amid the military actions in Iran, which started without consultation of Congress.

In her prepared remarks at the start of the appearance, Gabbard said the intelligence community "assesses the regime in Iran to be intact but largely degraded by Operation Epic Fury," using the US codename for the strike.

She said that if the regime were to survive the attacks, it would begin efforts lasting years to "rebuild its missiles and drone forces." 

Gabbard added that Iran and its proxies remained capable of attacking US and allied interests in the Middle East, something for which Tehran had been providing ample daily evidence of late. 

She also repeated President Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was "obliterated" in June 2025 strikes on the country. "There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability," she said.

This claim seemed to be undermined by one of the at least four different justifications Trump has given for the latest attacks on Iran, as he said the attacks were necessary to prevent the risk of Tehran attaining a nuclear weapons and longer-range missiles. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe is also expected to tesitfy at Wednesday's hearing, which comes a day after the resignation of US counterterrorism chief Joe Kent in protest at the Iran war. 

NATOSecretary General Mark Rutte said alliance members are currently discussing "the best way" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"We all agree, of course, that trade has to open up again," Rutte told reporters during a visit to Norway. "What I know is that allies are working together, discussing how to do that."

NATO allies are "working on that collectively" in a bid to "find a way forward," Rutte added.

This comes after US President Donald Trump said NATO members should join the US in securing safe passage through the Strait due to Iran's threats against ships trying to pass through it during the joint US-Israeli war on Tehran.