President Donald Trump said Iran was still pursuing diplomatic avenues to end the war, but the US was not interested.
Meanwhile, Israel claimed it has destroyed the underground bunker of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Friday. In a statement, the military said that 50 jets and 100 bombs were used on the site.
Italy sending navy vessel on mission to help protect Cyprus
An Italian navy vessel is preparing to sail to Cyprus, a navy spokesperson said on Friday, as part of a joint European mission to protect the island after it came under Iranian fire this week.
The Federico Martinengo frigate will be deployed in the Cyprus area as part of a coordinated mission also involving France, Spain and the Netherlands.
A British Royal Air Force base in Cyprus was targeted on Monday by an Iranian-made drone following the US and Israeli attack against Tehran.
The Italian navy said around 160 crew members will be on board the vessel, which is expected to depart from Italy by Saturday.
Iran says it launches attack on US forces in Bahrain
Iran has launched an attack on US forces in Bahrain, an Iranian military spokesman has said, according to state media.
A surge in oil prices due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East has prompted fears of a new cost of living crisis in the UK.
Experts are warning that rising prices and energy bills could fuel higher inflation, having a knock-on impact on mortgages, savings and spiralling food costs.
Markets are bracing for longer-lasting volatility as the US and Israel continue to strike Iran, with Tehran authorising revenge attacks in countries across the region and impacting the passage of goods through the Strait of Hormuz.
Holly Evans reports:
Iran conflict threatens new cost of living crisis in Britain
Iran fires at civilian neighbourhoods in Bahrain, US says
Iranian forces have fired seven attack drones at civilian and residential neighbourhoods in Bahrain on Thursday night, US central command has said.
Trump says Cuba is ‘gonna fall pretty soon’
Donald Trump told CNN in an interview on Friday that he believes his administration is close to toppling the communist government that has led Cuba, the Caribbean island just 90 miles off the Florida coast, since 1959.
“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon,” said the president, who spoke with CNN correspondent Dana Bash by phone.
“They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put Marco [Rubio] over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years,” Trump continued.
Russia providing Iran with intelligence to target US forces, reports Washington Post
Russia is providing Iran with information including the locations of US warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the Washington Post has reported.
The extent of the assistance was not clear but the Post reported that Iran’s military capabilities to locate US forces had been degraded since the onslaught of hostilities.
What is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and does it operate in the UK?
Four men have been arrested on suspicion of spying on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in London for Iran.
While the Metropolitan Police has not said the suspects were working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military branch has a history of operating inside the UK.
Just this week, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for the UK Government to introduce emergency legislation to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, arguing it is “more desperate and dangerous than ever”.
What is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and does it operate in the UK?
Trump says thousands of people being moved out of Middle East ‘quietly, but seamlessly’
President Donald Trump has said that the United States is moving thousands of people out of countries throughout the Middle East. “It is being done quietly, but seamlessly,” he said in a social media post on Friday.