The Latest: US is deploying Marines to Middle East as it pounds Iran

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About 2,500 U.S. Marines are being deployed to the Middle East as American and Israeli strikes keep pounding Iran and the Islamic Republic keeps attacking Persian Gulf shipping and energy infrastructure. As Iranian threats choke global oil shipments, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said “we have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it.”

A large explosion rocked a square in Tehran that was filled with people for annual Quds Day demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, Iranian state television reported. Thousands chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.”

More than 100 children are among the 773 people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. All six crew members aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are dead, raising the U.S. military death toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13.

Israel said Friday its strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon are “ continuing and intensifying.” Hezbollah’s leader said his gunmen “will fight until the end.” U.S. President Donald Trump said the war would end “when I feel it in my bones.”

Here is the latest:

A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, two security officials said.

The projectile landed within the embassy’s boundaries after the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses Iraqi government institutions and foreign embassies, added the security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak with the press.

Video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke billowing from inside the compound.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”

The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones in the past by Iran-aligned militias.

These groups have recently stepped up attacks on bases hosting U.S. and coalition troops.

A drone strike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a French soldier and wounded several others stationed there as part of an international coalition.

By Qassim Abdul-Zahra

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said early Saturday it downed a drone in the al-Jawf region, a sparsely populated province near the Jordan border that hosts military and energy infrastructure.

The ministry also said it shot down seven drones headed toward the kingdom’s eastern region, one of its least dense areas close to Iran and home to major oil installations.

In Qatar, the Defense Ministry said forces were responding to a missile attack targeting the gas-rich nation.

Dubai’s Media Office said debris from an interception struck the facade of a building in the city center, adding that the incident was contained, with no fire or injuries reported.

Two Palestinians were killed early Saturday by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

According to the Nasser hospital, an Israeli drone strike hit a police checkpoint in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing two men.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The deaths were the latest among Palestinians since an October ceasefire halted major fighting in Gaza.

More than 650 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since Oct. 11, according to the Strip’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

The Iranian-backed Hamas militant group still controls Gaza after more than two years of war against Israel.

An October ceasefire deal stopped major military operations in the Strip.

Explosions were heard in Qatar’s capital, Doha, early Saturday, according to an Associated Press journalist. Authorities there have urged residents to remain indoors.

In Kuwait, National Guard forces intercepted a drone attacking the Gulf nation.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said early Saturday that Iran launched missiles toward Israel.

As the war in Iran continues to upend energy markets and supply chains worldwide, the Trump administration says it might suspend maritime shipping requirements under a more than century-old law known as the Jones Act.

The Jones Act requires that goods hauled between U.S. ports be moved on U.S.-flagged vessels. Passed in 1920, it aims to protect the American shipping sector — but it has also faced criticism over the years for slowing the delivery of goods, including critical aid during time of crisis. And it is often blamed for making gas, in particular, more expensive.

The White House confirmed that it was looking into waiving Jones Act requirements this week in a temporary measure amid wider efforts to counter steep oil prices and cargo disruptions due to the war.

▶ Read more on what to know about the Jones Act

Three acts of violence in the U.S. in the last week have laid bare a heightened terrorism threat unfolding against the backdrop of the Iran war and as the country’s counterterrorism system is strained by the departures of experienced national security professionals at the FBI and Justice Department.

The firings and resignations, along with the diversion of resources and personnel over the last year to meet other Trump administration priorities, have fueled concerns about the capability to head off a potential surge in threats.

“So much experience has been decimated from the ranks,” said Frank Montoya, a retired senior FBI official.

“The folks that were best positioned to get to the bottom of it before something really bad happened” are in many cases no longer with the government, he said, meaning less experienced personnel assigned to the threat are “starting from way behind.”

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Authorities say Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, 41, crashed his car into Temple Israel outside Detroit on Thursday afternoon and then started firing his gun through the windshield, exchanging fire with an armed security guard. Authorities say Ghazali ultimately fatally shot himself.

Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

An Israeli airstrike on March 5 killed four people in the town of Mashgharah, Lebanese officials reported, and a local official there told AP on Friday that among those killed were Ghazali’s two brothers, a niece and a nephew. They died at their home just after sunset as they were having their fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, also said the children’s mother was seriously wounded and remained in a hospital.

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Iran’s parliament speaker warned on Thursday that attacks on the Persian Gulf islands on Iran’s southern maritime frontier would provoke a new level of retaliation, underscoring how central they are to the country’s economy and security.

In a social media post, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran “will abandon all restraint” if the islands come under attack and said Trump will be responsible for “the blood of American soldiers.”

Kharg Island, Qeshm Island, and the tiny islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb carry outsized importance because of their oil facilities and strategic location.

“A direct strike would immediately halt the bulk of Iran’s crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation,” JPMorgan said in an investment note this week.

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Asked by a reporter if he had discussed the war with Xi Jinping, the president said, “I have, and we’re discussing a couple of different things with him. Not only that, but other things.”

Trump did not offer any specifics on what they discussed.

Asked during the Fox News Radio interview — which was recorded Thursday night and aired the following morning — whether he was thinking about seizing the island, the president said it was “not high on the list” but also he could “change my mind in seconds.”

The question appeared to touch a nerve, eliciting scorn as Trump called it a question that shouldn’t be asked.

“Who’d ask a question like that, and what fool would answer it?” he said. “Let’s say I was going to do it or let’s say I wasn’t going to do it, why would I tell you?”

The president announced the action in a social media post as he prepared to fly to Florida for the weekend.

“Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump said.

He added: “For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”

Trump answered questions from reporters traveling with him before he boarded Air Force One but did not mention the latest U.S. military operation.

The small island in the Persian Gulf is the primary terminal through which all of Iran’s oil exports pass.

It announced the interception early Saturday. AP journalists in Doha heard explosions consistent with possible interceptions.

The ministry said earlier that authorities were evacuating “a number” of areas as a temporary precaution, without identifying the locations. Emergency alerts were sent to people’s phones.

Evacuations have been rare in Qatar since Iran started targeting it with drones and missiles. In early March, authorities evacuated residents near the U.S. Embassy in Doha.

An Israeli strike hit a health care center in the village of Burj Qalaouiyah in the Bint Jbeil District, killing 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses who were on duty, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The toll was preliminary as rescue teams continued searching for missing people, it added.

The ministry said it was the second attack on the health sector within hours, after another Israeli strike on the southern village of Souaneh killed two paramedics and wounded five others when it hit a paramedic center.

The ministry condemned the attack and denounced what it called as continued violence against health workers.

Israeli strikes have so far killed 18 paramedics among 773 people reported killed in Lebanon since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel reignited March 2.

The country’s consulate in Beirut condemned the attack, which hit the headquarters of a Nepali battalion serving with the United Nations Interim Force in the border village of Mais al-Jabal, in the Marjeyoun district. No Nepali soldiers were wounded.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible. There has been ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon beginning March 2, after Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel.

Peacekeeping positions in the south have come under fire several times during the clashes, most recently on March 6 when three were wounded at a UNIFIL base.

Simultaneously, sirens sounded in Jerusalem.

An AP tally of drone and missile interceptions reported by Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry on social media Friday found that the country’s air defenses intercept 65 drones and one ballistic missile as Iran continues to aim projectiles at nations in the Persian Gulf.

Most were reported in eastern Saudi Arabia — one of the kingdom’s least dense regions, close to Iran and home to major oil installations.

Though Saudi Arabia has intercepted most of the missiles from Iran, strikes have killed at least two migrant workers.

The country, home to Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, has also been among those where Iranian strikes have killed an American soldier.

Israel’s two-year war on Gaza has been muffled with a fragile ceasefire since October, but much of the territory remains in ruins with no clear timeline for reconstruction.

People gathered for Friday prayers in Gaza City inside a tent-turned-prayer area in the middle of a destroyed school campus.

Reem al-Naggar, a displaced woman, told The Associated Press she fears being forgotten as the Iran war escalates.

On Friday evening, her family prepared to break their daily Ramadan fast — a meal known as Iftar — by laying out a modest salad and noodle soup with barely enough protein.

“When we miss our home, we go to have iftar on top of (the rubble of) the house. We place our food and remember the good days,” said Reem’s relative, Amany al-Naggar.

An Israeli strike on Friday killed three people east of Gaza City, including two teens, health officials said. Israel’s military said it was unaware of any strikes in the area.

Those higher oil prices, in turn, are ratcheting up inflationary pressure on the global economy.

“Everything’s just trading with crude oil at this point,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird. “We’re basically in a holding pattern until we get kind of the hour-by-hour, day-by-day news about the conflict in the Middle East.”

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% after having been up as much as 0.9% in the early going. The benchmark index is now down 3.1% so far this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite finished 0.9% lower. The indexes also ended the week with their third straight weekly loss.

After briefly easing early Friday, crude oil prices rose again, bringing the benchmark oil price back above $100 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, closed 2.7% higher at $103.14 per barrel. It’s up about 40% for the month.

The U.S. vice president told reporters while he was traveling to North Carolina on Friday that, “It’s not totally clear, actually” if the U.S. or Israel launched a strike that injured Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

At the start of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment, Trump confidently told Iranians that they would soon have an opportunity to rid themselves from the clerical rule of the past 47 years.

“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump urged Iranians opponents of the government.

But in his Fox News Radio interview on Friday, Trump was far more measured about the pathway ahead for opponents of the Islamic regime and alluded to the paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, maintaining its grip as a menacing force in Iran.

“So, I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons. I think it’s a very big hurdle,” Trump said.

He added, “it’ll happen, but it probably will be maybe not immediately. Who is going to do that? They literally have people in the streets with machine guns, machine gunning people down if they want to protest.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an airstrike on a home killed six people, including a child, late Friday in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.

The Health Ministry said a separate airstrike on a paramedics’ center in the southern village of Souaneh killed two medics and wounded five others.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only one open into Gaza, and the U.N. humanitarian office known as OCHA reported that on Thursday and Friday nearly all humanitarian movements were denied, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

As a result, he said, the U.N. has only been able to collect fuel for distribution in Gaza.

OCHA said the World Health Organization reported that it has not been allowed to collect aid including nearly 50 intensive care unit beds and 170 pallets of medicine.

Dujarric said the U.N. raises the issue of aid deliveries every day with Israeli authorities. “What we need is predictable flow of humanitarian aid in sufficient volumes to meet all the needs,” he said.

Naim Kassem said Friday night that the Lebanese government hasn't been able to defend the country or its people from Israel's near daily strikes since a ceasefire went into effect in November 2024, so Hezbollah resumed firing after the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran.

Surrender and defeat “are not in our dictionary,” Kassem said. “This is an existential battle. It is not a limited or simple battle.”

Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said in an interview posted on the ministry’s social media pages that it had responded to 5,000 reports of fallen shrapnel in more than 600 locations since the beginning of the war.

The Gulf nation, home to the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base and smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut, says it has intercepted most of the incoming Iranian missiles and drones.

In a phone call Friday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country is still keen on “fraternal relations and good neighborliness with Arab states.”

That’s according to the office of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi, a former general and close ally of Saudi Arabia, who condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf countries and insisted they don’t support or participate in the war.

Roughly 2,500 Marines and at least one amphibious assault ship are headed for the Middle East, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said that elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the Middle East. The move would mark a major addition of troops to the region.

Marine Expeditionary Units are not only trained and equipped to conduct amphibious landings but they also specialize in bolstering security at embassies, evacuating civilians, and disaster relief. While the deployment is a major increase of troops to the region, it does not necessarily indicate that a ground operation is imminent or will take place at all.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as well the Tripoli and other amphibious assault ships carrying the Marines are based in Japan and have been at sea in the waters of the Pacific Ocean for the past several days, according to images released by the military. Their location puts them more than a week away from the waters off Iran.

The deployment of the additional Marines was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

— Konstantin Toropin

The strikes on roads and bridges come as Israel’s military says it is sending more forces to the front along the border with Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel’s air force twice struck the Jardali road linking the southern city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun. Strikes also destroyed bridges that Israel said were used by Hezbollah fighters.

After the previous Israel-Hezbollah war, the World Bank estimated the cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon at about $11 billion, with damage to physical structures amounting to $6.8 billion.

Last week, Israel’s finance minister threatened to make Beirut’s southern suburbs look like Gaza.

The country’s General Civil Aviation Authority said Friday that it would gradually resume air traffic after closures amid drone strikes on Dubai’s airport and closures during two weeks of war.

The UAE’s leaders have projected confidence in their air defenses, but flight cancellations threaten key pillars of its tourism‑ and transit‑dependent economy. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest, handles tens of millions of travelers a year and links Europe, Asia and Africa. The aviation industry employs hundreds of thousands of people in the country.

“We’re looking at every potential avenue to keep the fertilizer costs down as these farmers are going into planting season,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Rollins said she’s had conversations on Capitol Hill exploring additional funding for farmers. “No big announcements yet, but it is coming.”

Most farmers have already purchased fertilizer for this year’s planting season, Rollins said, but about 25% have not. A separate aid package from December opened $12 billion in aid for farmers hit by rising costs amid a trade war with China.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X that the 30-day reprieve on sanctions applies to Russian oil already loaded on tankers as of Thursday. He said allowing this stranded oil to be sold provides no additional financial benefit for Russia, because the Kremlin already taxed it when the oil was extracted from the ground.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it shows how the war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, a pillar of the Kremlin’s budget as it presses its invasion of Ukraine.

“This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” Zelenskyy said. “It spends the money from energy sales on weapons, and all of this is then used against us.”

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Israel says it has killed over 350 Hezbollah militants since renewed fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group broke out in Lebanon almost two weeks ago.

In a statement, the military said among those killed are senior Hezbollah operatives as well as prominent commanders of other militant groups.

Italy’s travel industry says the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and spillover to Gulf countries is triggering widespread cancellations and could cost the country at least €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in tourism revenue in 2026, according to the Italian Federation of Travel and Tourism Business.

Losses could reach €6 billion ($6.9 billion) when Gulf transit hubs are included, as travelers cancel or delay trips to destinations Italians often use as gateways to places like the Maldives and Japan, the federation’s Vice President Luana De Angelis said.

“All those people who were about to book their summer and Easter holidays have been forced to wait and see what happens,” she said.

Protesters from Pakistan to Nigeria voiced their support for Palestinians on the last Friday of Ramadan, waving images of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and denouncing Israel and the United States over the ongoing war with Iran.

The Jerusalem Day rallies were especially intense in countries with large Shiite Muslim populations. In Yemen’s capital Sanaa, crowds held posters of Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed at the start of the war, and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” according to Houthi-run al-Masirah television.

In Karachi, Pakistan, demonstrators shouted similar slogans as women dragged coffins marked with U.S. and Israeli flags through the streets.

Residents of Iran’s capital are in a state of shock after two weeks of fierce U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

From Tehran’s central historic quarters to upscale northern areas, bombs are shaking the city day and night, with no sirens or warning systems to alert the public. With the internet shut down, families and friends rely on each other for news about the war and the latest damage caused by airstrikes.

“The psychological pressure is real,” said one person in northern Tehran.

Residents say security forces have increased their presence in the streets to prevent any show of dissent. At the same time, the government has encouraged its supporters to gather in street demonstrations.

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