Israel targets Iran's security forces and leadership as Iran presses
attacks across the region
[March 04, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and SAMY MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Israel hit
Iran's capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on Wednesday, the
fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership
and security forces as the Islamic Republic responded with missile
barrages and drone attacks on Israel and across the region.
Tehran residents woke to the sound of dawn blasts, and Iranian state
television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital.
The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were targeted.
With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked
anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop, said he didn’t
know what to do.
“If I leave the city, how am I supposed to earn money and survive?” said
the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “I just
hope the Arabs do not get involved. If they do, their missiles won’t be
as precise as these.”
The Israeli military said one of its F-35 stealth fighter jets shot down
a piloted Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter over Tehran on Wednesday. It
also said Israeli air defenses had been activated to intercept Iranian
missiles fired at targets around the country, with explosions heard
around Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, an Iranian naval frigate was reported in distress off the
coast of Sri Lanka, prompting authorities there to respond and rescue 32
people, Sri Lankan Health Ministry official Anil Jasinghe said. It was
not immediately clear what happened to the ship or how many people were
on board.
US Embassies and oil in the crosshairs
With Iran's stranglehold on tanker movement through the Strait of
Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth
of the world's oil is shipped, Brent crude prices hit $84 a barrel, up
more than 15% since the start of the conflict and at its highest price
since July 2024. Global stock markets have been hammered over worries
that the spike in oil prices may grind down the world economy and sap
corporate profits.
The American Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Consulate in the
United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks Tuesday, and the U.S.
State Department said Wednesday it had authorized non-emergency
government personnel to evacuate the kingdom.
U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Iran
has launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and 2,000 drones so far.
He described the American strikes in the opening hours of the campaign
as “nearly double the scale” of the initial attacks during the 2003
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
“We’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets, with more than 2,000
munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed
hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones,” Cooper
said in a prerecorded message shared online Wednesday.
Five days into a war that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested could
last a month or longer, nearly 800 people have been killed in Iran,
including some Trump said he had considered as possible future leaders
of the country.
Both sides are unrelenting in attacks
Air sirens sounded in the morning across the island kingdom of Bahrain,
home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said
Iran launched two ballistic missiles against it. One hit Al-Udeid Qatari
Base but didn’t cause casualties.
Lebanon was hit in multiple strikes, where Israel said it is retaliating
against Hezbollah militants after the Iran-backed group fired on Israel.
Lebanon's state-run media said at least five people were killed in an
Israeli strike at a residential complex in the city of Baalbeck. More
than 50 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 300 wounded,
according to the Health Ministry.
Iranian-linked militant groups in Iraq have also been launching attacks,
with Saraya Awliya al-Dam claiming responsibility for a drone attack
Wednesday on Jordan. The Shiite militia group one of several operating
in Iraq, and claimed responsibility for attacks in the past days on
American targets in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city Irbil.
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This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows aircraft on the
flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) that are operating
in support of the war in Iran, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (U.S. Navy
via AP)
Iran has fired regular salvoes of missiles and drones missiles at
Israel, though most of the incoming fire has been intercepted.
Eleven people in Israel have been killed since the conflict began.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions about when and how
it would end.
Trump's administration has offered various objectives, including
destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, wiping out its navy,
preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring it cannot
continue to support allied armed groups.
Israel presses attacks on Iranian security forces and leadership
While the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their
government, senior administration officials have since said regime
change was not the goal.
Trump on Tuesday seemed to downplay the chances of the war ending
Iran's theocratic rule, saying that “someone from within” the
Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the
U.S.-Israel campaign is finished.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Wednesday on X that
whoever Iran picks as the country’s next supreme leader, he will be
“a target for elimination.”
The Israeli military also said it hit buildings in Tehran associated
with the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard that conducted the bloody crackdown on
protesters in January that killed thousands and saw tens of
thousands detained in the country.
Iran's judiciary chief, Gholam Hosseini Mohseni Ejehei, on Wednesday
threatened anyone who supports the U.S.-Israeli campaign.
“Those who say or do anything in line with the will of America and
the Zionist regime are on the enemy’s side and must be dealt with on
revolutionary, Islamic principles and in accordance with the time of
war,” he said on Iranian state television.
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the
country for 37 years. It’s only the second time since the 1979
Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Among
those who are considered as possible candidates is Mojtaba Khamenei,
a son of the late ayatollah.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military
struck a building in the Iranian city of Qom Tuesday where clerics
were expected to meet to discuss selecting a new supreme leader. He
said the army was still assessing whether anyone was hit.
The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be
close to the Guard, linked the building to Iran’s Assembly of
Experts and said Wednesday there was no meeting there at the time of
the attack. Fars said that the assembly was meeting remotely,
without elaborating.
Hundreds have died, including children
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people in Iran,
according to the Red Crescent Society.
Kuwait, which had previously reported a single death, said Wednesday
that an 11-year-old girl was killed by falling shrapnel as Kuwaiti
forces were intercepting “hostile aerial targets.” In addition,
three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates and one in
Bahrain.
Six U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were killed by a drone strike Sunday
on a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok, and Magdy from Cairo. Elena Becatoros
in Athens, Greece, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Elaine
Kurtenbach in Bangkok and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to
this report.
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