Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the air strike on Azerbaijan was not linked to Iran, according to Azerbaijani state media.

During a phone call, Pezeshkian also thanked Aliyev for visiting Iran’s embassy in Azerbaijan to offer condolences following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other civilians killed in recent attacks on Iran.

According to the report, Pezeshkian said the incident in Nakhchivan would be investigated, while Aliyev stressed the need to establish exactly what happened.

Aliyev also repeated his condolences over the civilian deaths reported in Iran.

The United Arab Emirates has pushed back against reports in Hebrew-language media claiming it carried out a strike inside Iran.

A senior UAE official told the BBC’s Yalda Hakim that “Israel should be very careful about spreading fake news”, in response to the claims.

The reports had cited unnamed Israeli officials as alleging the UAE struck a desalination plant in Iran.

Separately, the UAE’s Defence Ministry said the death toll from Iranian missile and drone attacks on the country had risen to four.

Fresh Israeli air strikes have hit several towns in southern Lebanon, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The reported attacks targeted Zebdin and Zefta in the Nabatieh district.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Over the past week, governments across the region have reported what they say were Iranian missile and drone attacks, underlining how far the conflict has spread beyond Iran and Israel.

Israel, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE have all said they were targeted during the first week of fighting. Bahrain and Jordan have also reported intercepting missiles since the war began on 28 February.

Cyprus — where the UK maintains two RAF bases — has also experienced hostile activity. British military officials’ current assessment is that the drone which struck RAF Akrotiri last Monday was launched from Lebanon by the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said on Thursday that Iranian drones struck its western exclave of Nakhchivan, injuring two people. Tehran has denied any involvement.

Iran’s army says at least 104 people were killed and 32 others injured after an Iranian warship was struck off the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this week.

According to the Iranian update, the vessel was hit by a torpedo fired from a US submarine. Earlier reporting on the incident identified the ship as the IRIS Dena, an Iranian frigate sunk in waters near Sri Lanka. 

Previous reporting from Sri Lankan and international outlets cited lower early casualty figures and rescue counts, suggesting the toll may still be changing as authorities account for missing crew.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi says large parts of the Iranian capital are now buried under a thick layer of smoke after US and Israeli strikes hit fuel depots across the city.

Speaking from the western Shahran district, where one of the depots was targeted, Asadi said heavy smoke was drifting through the air and that several storage sites in the west, east and south-east of Tehran had been hit.

The resulting fires have sent dense, toxic smoke high above the city, with the pollution now spreading across almost the entire capital. Asadi said Tehran was “barely visible” beneath the smog.

Beyond the immediate danger of the strikes, residents are now facing a growing public health threat as the smoke blankets the city and drifts towards surrounding areas, raising fresh concerns over air quality.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence says its forces shot down two drones north of Riyadh.

In a statement, the ministry’s official spokesperson said the attack was thwarted. No further details were immediately provided about where the drones came from, or whether there was any damage or casualties.

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has said the war against Iran is intended to remove what he described as a long-standing regional threat posed by the Islamic Republic.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Waltz claimed the US operation is delivering “truly extraordinary” results about a week in, asserting that Iran’s air force and air defences have been destroyed or severely degraded, and that Iran’s navy has been sunk — including “over 40 ships” he said are now “at the bottom of the ocean”.

Waltz said the president and senior US officials are presenting the campaign as necessary to protect Americans and “eliminate this threat once and for all”.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the United States is not planning to target Iran’s oil, gas or wider energy infrastructure, drawing a distinction between US operations and Israeli strikes.

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union, Wright said: “There are no plans to target Iran’s oil industry, natural gas industry or anything about their energy industry.” He added: “These are Israeli strikes… The US is targeting zero energy infrastructure.”

Wright acknowledged the air quality impacts from strikes on fuel storage sites — after residents described conditions as “suffocating” — but argued that the hardship of “a few days of lower air quality” is minor compared with what he said Iranians have endured under their government.

Fuel prices: Wright also sought to defend the Trump administration’s record on energy costs while being pressed on recent price rises during the conflict. He said petrol and diesel prices had fallen compared with earlier periods, but accepted the administration wants pump prices below $3 a gallon again. He claimed petrol is still around $1.50 per gallon cheaper than it was at the midpoint of the Biden administration, while noting diesel has been rising faster than petrol because it was already in tighter supply.

Emergency medics say they are responding to reports of an impact site in central Israel following the latest Iranian ballistic missile attack — described as the sixth since midnight.

It is not yet clear whether this was a direct strike or debris from a missile that was intercepted.

Initial military assessments suggest only a small number of missiles were launched in this barrage. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas in central Israel.

After a roughly six-hour lull, the IDF said it detected another incoming ballistic missile attack from Iran, warning that sirens were expected to sound again in central Israel in the coming minutes.

A fresh round of Israeli strikes overnight has further disrupted life in Iran and across the Gulf, as casualty figures continue to climb and regional infrastructure comes under renewed pressure.

Tehran fuel disruption

Iranian officials say overnight attacks have affected fuel distribution in Tehran, with reports from the ground describing a burning fuel depot and residents reporting unusual “oily” rainfall in parts of the capital — consistent with fallout that can follow major fuel fires, though the exact cause and extent would require independent environmental assessment.

Bahrain desalination site hit

Bahrain says an Iranian strike hit a desalination facility, sharpening concerns about how vulnerable Gulf water supplies are during escalation. Local authorities say supplies have not been disrupted so far.

Succession politics inside Iran

Iranian state outlets are reporting that hardline members of the Assembly of Experts (the body tasked with selecting a supreme leader) say a decision has been made on a successor — but no name has been announced publicly.

Latest casualty figures being reported

• Iran: A US-based monitoring group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), says at least 1,205 civilians have been killed since US and Israeli strikes began last Saturday.

• Lebanon: Lebanon’s health ministry says nearly 400 people have been killed since Israel began strikes earlier this week.

Israel, Lebanon front

Israel’s military says two Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon early today — described as Israel’s first military fatalities since this war began.

Iranian strikes on Israel

Israel’s emergency service says five people were injured in an Iranian ballistic missile strike in central Israel.

Aviation disruption

Air travel remains heavily disrupted, though Qatar Airways has resumed a limited schedule, underscoring the ongoing volatility across regional airspace.

Thick black smoke has been seen hanging over parts of Tehran after overnight strikes hit oil and fuel storage sites, lighting the sky with large orange flames.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the attacks marked a “dangerous new phase” of the conflict and described them as a war crime.

“By targeting fuel depots, the aggressors are releasing hazardous materials and toxic substances into the air – poisoning civilians, devastating the environment, and endangering lives on a massive scale,” Baghaei wrote on X.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said the selection of a new supreme leader will be handled by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, insisting the process is a domestic matter and not subject to foreign pressure.

In an interview with NBC, Araghchi said Iran’s political institutions were continuing to operate, adding that the president, cabinet and parliament were still carrying out their duties.

“A new supreme leader is going to be elected soon by the Assembly of Experts,” he said.

Araghchi also pushed back against comments from US President Donald Trump, saying Iran would not accept outside involvement in its internal affairs.

“This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader,” he said. “It is only the business of the Iranian people and nobody else’s business.”

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says its Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, took part virtually in an extraordinary Arab League Council meeting at ministerial level.

In a statement, the ministry said the session focused on Iranian attacks against the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of several Arab countries, describing them as a “flagrant violation” of international law and the principles of good neighbourliness.

The meeting also discussed what it called the serious risks these actions pose to the security and stability of Arab states and the wider region.

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesperson says Iran is directing the majority of its missile and drone operations at US forces and interests in the Middle East, rather than at Israel.

In a televised address, Ali Mohammad Naeini said: “About 60% of our offensive capability — our missile fire and drone operations — is directed at the bases and strategic interests of the United States in the region, and 40% is directed at the targets of the Israeli regime.”

He described the US as “the main enemy” in the conflict and said American bases in the region were being prioritised for “punishment”, adding that Iran views those facilities as “legitimate targets”.

Naeini also claimed Iran has shot down 80 drones sent towards it, including what he described as three US MQ-9 drones and 74 Israeli drones. He insisted Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles are sufficient for a prolonged conflict, citing heavy missiles, ballistic and cruise missiles, drones and assault vessels.

Separately, the UAE’s Defence Ministry has said the country has been hit heavily by spillover, reporting it has detected more than 230 ballistic missiles and over 1,400 drones since the conflict began.

A senior UAE official has suggested the conflict with Iran may move out of its most perilous phase “sooner rather than later”, even if the wider war takes longer to formally end.

Speaking earlier, the official said: “At the end of the day, this war will end, and my reading is… the danger of it will end sooner rather than later. But the formal end of the war might take a little bit longer.”

The official warned, however, that even after the fighting stops, the political damage could be long-lasting. Relations between Iran and the Gulf Arab states it has targeted will ultimately have to normalise because “you are neighbours”, he said — but the trust gap created by the war could take “decades” to repair.

He added that any future negotiated settlement would need to address Iran’s missile programme, arguing missiles have now become “centre stage” and are no longer viewed in the region purely as self-defence.

The UAE has been among the countries reporting repeated incoming missiles and drones, and the official said the scale of the attacks was not expected — particularly given the risk to Iran’s ties with its neighbours.

He also said France is assisting with air patrols and interception efforts, and claimed the UAE has been preparing contingency plans for a long time, including maintaining sufficient food stocks.