Iran lashes out with attacks on Israel and Gulf neighbors as Israel hits Beirut

Iran lashes out with attacks on Israel and Gulf neighbors as Israel hits Beirut 1 of 8 | An Israeli airstrike has struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut. The Israeli army had warned residents in the building to evacuate about an hour before completely flattening it as day broke. (AP video by: Fadi Tawil; Production by: Sally Abou AlJoud) 2 of 8 | An Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke on Wednesday. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighborhoods early Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. 3 of 8 | A witness described the moment an apartment in Israel was struck during an Iranian missile attack before dawn Wednesday. “So much dust coming from here,” said Mary Milrad, a Filipino citizen living in Ramat Gan, a district east of Tel Aviv. (AP video/Ami Bentov) 4 of 8 | Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran’s National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File) 5 of 8 | Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo) 6 of 8 | Commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File) 7 of 8 | Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) 8 of 8 | A view of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike, in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) 1 of 8 An Israeli airstrike has struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut. The Israeli army had warned residents in the building to evacuate about an hour before completely flattening it as day broke. (AP video by: Fadi Tawil; Production by: Sally Abou AlJoud) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 8 An Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke on Wednesday. Two earlier strikes on residential apartments in other central Beirut neighborhoods early Wednesday killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 8 A witness described the moment an apartment in Israel was struck during an Iranian missile attack before dawn Wednesday. “So much dust coming from here,” said Mary Milrad, a Filipino citizen living in Ramat Gan, a district east of Tel Aviv. (AP video/Ami Bentov) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 8 Ali Larijani, center, head of Iran’s National Security Council, gestures as Hezbollah supporters throw rice to welcome him outside Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 8 Fire and plumes of smoke rise after a drone struck a fuel tank forcing the temporary suspension of flights. near Dubai International Airport, in United Arab Emirates, early Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 6 of 8 Commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 7 of 8 Volunteers clean debris from a residential building damaged when a nearby police station was hit Friday in a U.S.-Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 8 of 8 A view of a building damaged in an Israeli airstrike, in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran lashed out following the killing of one of its top leaders in an airstrike with attacks on its Gulf neighbors and Israel on Wednesday, using some of its latest missiles to evade air defenses and killing two near Tel Aviv as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of slowing. Israel kept up intense pressure on Lebanon with strikes it said targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, hitting multiple apartment buildings in Beirut and killing at least six people. In Iran, the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex was hit by a projectile but there were no injuries and the plant suffered no damage, the International Atomic Energy Agency said after receiving a report from Tehran. The IAEA’s leader, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call “for maximum restraint during the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident.” The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 per barrel in early trading on Wednesday, up more than 40% from the start of the war. Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran to start the war on Feb. 28, Iran has been targeting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors, as well as military bases, as part of a strategy to drive up oil prices and put pressure on Washington to back down. Iran has also shown no sign of relenting in its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits, giving rise to growing concerns of a global energy crisis. Iran executes man it says spied for IsraelIran’s judiciary announced a man had been executed on charges that he spied for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the man as Kourosh Keyvani and alleged that he “provided images and information on sensitive locations” to Israel.Activists and rights groups have warned since Iran’s nationwide protests in January that the Islamic Republic could begin conducting mass executions. Iran violently suppressed the protests through violence that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained. Iranian strikes Gulf StatesNew attacks were reported in multiple Gulf countries early Wednesday, including on Saudi Arabia’s vast Eastern Province, which is home to many of its oil fields, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a projectile caused a small fire at its base in the UAE near Dubai but caused no injuries. His comments appeared to correspond with explosions heard near Al Minhad Air Base, used by Western nations as a transit hub for the wider Mideast.Missile alerts sounded again later in Dubai as the sound of interceptors exploding overhead boomed across the city-state. Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile targeting the area of the Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft, and a drone targeting Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, which houses the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions. Iran has vowed to continue to throttle shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Since the conflict started, a few ships have gotten through with their cargos — some of which were Iranian, but also from India, Turkey and elsewhere — and Iran insists that the waterway is open, just not to the U.S. or many of its allies. U.S. Central Command said the U.S. military fired multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator bombs Tuesday on Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the strait. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been growing increasingly frustrated that no allies have stepped forward after he said he demanded others send ships to help open the strait again, posted on social media Tuesday that “WE DON’T NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” Iran launches multiple-warhead missiles at IsraelResponding to Israel’s killing of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the country’s most powerful figures, the Republican Guard said Wednesday it had targeted central Israel with multiple-warhead missiles, which have an increased chance of evading missile defense systems and can overwhelm radar tracking systems.Israel reported at least two salvoes of incoming fire and the country’s medical service said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the force launched the Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr multiple-warhead missiles to avenge Larijani’s killing. Footage filmed by The Associated Press showed at least one missile releasing cluster munitions over Israel.Larijani, a former parliamentary speaker, was a senior policy adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with the Trump administration. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role “coordinating” Iran’s violent suppression of nationwide protests.Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Basij militia, was also killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday. Soleimani was sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and other nations, over his role in suppressing dissent for years through the Basij. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also came under fire for the second day in a row early Wednesday, two Iraqi security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment.Further details were not immediately available, but pro-Iran militia groups have been regularly attacking American targets in Iraq since the start of the war. On Tuesday a drone cashed inside the Baghdad embassy compound. Renewed Israeli strikes in LebanonIsrael flattened an apartment building in central Beirut about an hour after issuing an evacuation notice. It was the fourth time the building has been targeted, but three strikes last week failed to bring it down. Israel’s military claimed the building was being used by Hezbollah to store “millions of dollars intended to finance its activities,” without providing evidence. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but other attacks on apartment buildings in central Beirut have killed at least six people and wounded 24 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The Israeli army also said it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon “in response to firing into Israeli territory.”Israel’s strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 900 people have been killed. In Israel, 14 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict started Feb. 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent.___Rising reported from Bangkok, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Sally Abou AlJoud from Beirut contributed to this story. Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press. He has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. Rising covers regional Asia-Pacific stories for The Associated Press. He has worked around the world, including covering the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and was based for nearly 20 years in Berlin before moving to Bangkok. Magdy is a Middle East reporter for The Associated Press, based in Cairo. He focuses on conflict, migration and human rights abuses.