Iran must halt its attacks and stop using armed proxies in the region, Bahrain’s ambassador to the United Nations told the Security Council, warning that continued hostilities risk further destabilizing the Middle East.
Ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei told the UN Security Council Iran had carried out attacks against Bahrain and other Arab states in violation of international law and the UN Charter.
An Iranian drone strike in Kuwait that killed six US service members in the early hours of the war caused far greater casualties than initially disclosed, with dozens suffering injuries including traumatic brain injuries, shrapnel wounds and burns, multiple sources told CBS News.
At least one service member may require an amputation.
Sources described a chaotic scene after the March 1 strike on a tactical operations center at Shuaiba port outside Kuwait City, where smoke quickly filled the building and complicated rescue efforts.
More than 30 service members remained hospitalized Tuesday night with battle injuries from the attack, sources said.
Drones launched by Israel targeted checkpoints in Tehran on Wednesday and were tracked by Iran’s air defenses, IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported.
Fars said unconfirmed reports indicated one of the drones failed during an operation in northeast Tehran.
The drones were aimed at disrupting security measures in the city, including neighborhood checkpoints, the report added.
Iran’s state media has moved quickly to frame the leadership transition not as a rupture but as proof of institutional resilience, shifting its messaging from wartime urgency to carefully managed continuity.
Following the death of Ali Khamenei and the elevation of Mojtaba Khamenei, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) emphasized that the state—not any individual—is the true source of stability.
IRIB’s rolling news channel, IRINN, repeatedly declared: “The Islamic Republic of Iran is not dependent on a single individual. It is a system based on the rule of law and divine values.”
After the Assembly of Experts named Mojtaba leader on March 9, state television pivoted to stressing the decisiveness of the vote.
Despite reports of clerical unease about the process, IRIB described the outcome as reflecting an 85 percent consensus and presented it as both legally sound and religiously sanctioned.
Broadcasts featured pledges of allegiance from the Revolutionary Guards, the military, the diplomatic corps and even the national football team as evidence of unified support.
Because the transition unfolded during an active conflict with Israel and the United States, state television fused the succession narrative with imagery of military strength.
Shortly after Mojtaba’s appointment, IRIB aired footage of missile launches toward Israel under the caption: “At your command, Sayyid Mojtaba,” invoking both his lineage and his role as wartime commander-in-chief.
The messaging aligned with broader official rhetoric, with security chief Ali Larijani and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf both rejecting calls for a ceasefire and signaling that Iran would continue strikes.
These narratives circulated even as Mojtaba himself remained absent from public view. His silence fueled speculation about his condition, with some commentators drawing religious analogies to the occultation of the 12th Imam, while others circulated unverified claims about his whereabouts.
At home, the messaging has been accompanied by tighter control. Iran’s police chief warned that anyone taking to the streets after encouragement from US and Israeli leaders would be treated as an “enemy” rather than a civilian protester—a signal that the space for dissent is narrowing further under wartime conditions.
References to dissent or worsening economic conditions have meanwhile largely disappeared from state coverage.
Skepticism about the hereditary nature of the succession has been framed as foreign psychological warfare, while relatively small pro-government gatherings are presented as signs of broad public enthusiasm.
For now, the message is clear: continuity over disruption, system over individual. But the carefully managed narrative also reflects the pressures facing the leadership at a moment of unusual uncertainty.
All ports and docks in the region would become legitimate targets if Iran’s ports and docks are threatened, a senior spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces told state media on Wednesday.
“I deny the CENTCOM (US Central Command) statement claiming that naval vessels of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have hidden in commercial ports,” Abolfazl Shekarchi added.
Earlier in the day, CENTCOM said that Iran was using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations that threaten international shipping.
CENTCOM warned Iranian dockworkers, administrative personnel and commercial vessel crews to avoid Iranian naval vessels and military equipment.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said capping oil prices would help limit Russia’s revenues and warned that now was not the time to ease sanctions, after joining a call with G7 leaders on the Iran war’s impact on oil and gas markets.
“This is not the moment to relax sanctions on Russia,” she wrote on X.
Von der Leyen added that she and European Council President Antonio Costa stressed the need to keep energy flows moving, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, and backed the International Energy Agency’s decision to release 400 million barrels of oil.
