Middle East crisis live: explosions rock Tehran as Iran war enters second week

Key events5m agoUS approves $151m arms sale to Israel13m agoOpening summaryShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureA blast has been reported in Jerusalem after an Iranian missile alert.We’ll bring you more on this as it comes to hand.US approves $151m arms sale to IsraelThe US state department has approved the sale of $151.8m worth of munitions to Israel on Friday amid the escalating Middle East war.The sale of 12,000 requested 1,000-pound (470km) bomb bodies was approved by the state department’s bureau of political-military affairs, according to a press release on Friday.“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the bureau said in a statement cited by the AFP news agency.Opening summaryHello and welcome to our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran as the conflict continues to expand as it enters its second week.Donald Trump has declared that he would only accept Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” and Israel has traded fresh attacks with Iran and Lebanon.The US president’s comments on social media on Friday came hours after Iran’s president announced that unnamed countries had begun mediation efforts, briefly raising the possibility, however faint, of a diplomatic resolution.If you are just catching up on the latest, here is a quick summary of what you need to know. In Israel explosions could be heard on Friday as Israeli defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh drone and missile attacks. Israel pressed a major expansion of the war in Lebanon, pounding Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s entire southern suburbs. Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli airstrike on the Dahieh suburb of southern Beirut on Friday. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA Israel also launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had hit a bunker still being used by Iran’s leadership beneath slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound. Mehrabad Airport in Tehran had been struck early on Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about US targets in the region, according to news reports. In response US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was “not concerned” and was “tracking everything” and factoring it into battle plans. The Israeli military claimed it destroyed 80% of Iran’s air-defense systems in the first week of the campaign and disabled more than 60% of its missile launchers. European and US stock indexes tumbled on Friday amid Trump’s demand for Iran’s surrender and concerns it could complicate any quick path to ending the conflict. Oil prices hit their highest prices in years with the critical shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz effectively closed down. Trump said he must have a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader. Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani later said the new leadership would be chosen “without any foreign interference”. At least 1,332 people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israel first launched strikes on 28 February, Iravani said, citing the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people killed and 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks. About 300,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel since the war started, and at least six US service members have been killed.With news agencies