Key points from Pentagon briefing
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian ocean as he declared that the Iranian navy “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf” and that it was “ineffective, decimated, destroyed”.
He declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace”.
The leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes, Hegseth said.
Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed, and that the US has “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence”.
Hegseth said the US is able to continue the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to”, saying Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did”.
The Pentagon continued to deny responsibility for a strike on a girls’ school in Iran on Saturday that killed a reported 168 people. “All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.
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Key events
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From petrol to groceries: how Middle East crisis is driving up prices
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Iranian president tells neighbouring countries that Iran respects their sovereignty
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Israeli air force says it has dropped 5,000 bombs on Iran in current military campaign
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At least 80 people killed after US submarine torpedoes Iran warship, officials say
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Key points from Pentagon briefing
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China and Russia are ‘non-factors’ in Iran war, says Hegseth
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Hegseth: Iran cannot outlast us
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Hegseth says Iran can no longer shoot volume of missiles as before
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US is investigating deadly strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh school girls school in southern Iran, Hegseth says
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Hegseth confirms sinking of Iranian warship
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Rules of engagement designed to “unleash American power”, Hegseth says.
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From petrol to groceries: how Middle East crisis is driving up prices
The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted global supply chains and triggered price rises across a range of categories, prompting accusations of price gouging and warnings of worse to come if the conflict persists.
Here we take a look at the impact so far.
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Updated at 12.04 EST
Iranian president tells neighbouring countries that Iran respects their sovereignty
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, posted a message on X to the leaders of Iran’s neighbouring countries that Iran respects their countries’ sovereignties.
Pezeshkian said that Iran had strived to avoid war but the attack from the US and Israel left them no choice but to defend themselves.
أصحاب الجلالة، رؤساء الدول الصديقة والجارة، سعينا معكم وعبر الدبلوماسية لتجنّب الحرب، لكن العدوان العسكري الأمريكي-الصهيوني لم يترك لنا خياراً سوى الدفاع عن أنفسنا. نحترم سيادتكم، ونؤمن بأن أمن المنطقة واستقرارها يجب أن يتحقق بجهود دولها مجتمعة.
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) March 4, 2026
Iran’s neighbouring countries have spent the conflict intercepting missiles and drones, with a few getting past their air defences and hitting targets. The United Arab Emirates said it has been exposed to more than 1,000 attacks Iran since the conflict began, with a drone causing a small fire near the US embassy in Dubai yesterday. Three people have been killed.
The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, as well as a port in Oman.
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Updated at 11.53 EST
Here are some images of the conflict in the Middle East coming out over the wires:
Women prepare a makeshift memorial in tribute to Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on a street on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/ReutersA man places Iran’s national flag atop the ruins of a damaged police station building in central Tehran, Iran on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPASmoke billows following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh, a predominantly Shia Muslim suburb in the south of Beirut, Lebanon on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPAIsraeli tanks are positioned next to the Israeli-Lebanon border in upper Galilee in Israel on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPAA man inspects a damaged house struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Hatzor HaGlilit, northern Israel on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/APIsraelis take shelter from airstrikes in an underground parking garage in central Tel Aviv, Israel on 04 March 2026. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/ReutersShare
The Pentagon has released a video that officials say shows the US strike on Iris Dena, an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka.
More than 80 people were killed in the attack, which marks the first US attack on Iranian forces outside of the Middle East.
US submarine sinks Iranian warship near coast of Sri Lanka – videoShare
BBC Verify is reporting that a comment made by defence secretary Pete Hegseth during today’s briefing was incorrect.
Hegseth said that yesterday’s attack on an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean marked “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II”.
In 1971, a Pakistani submarine torpedoed an Indian frigate and during the Falklands War in 1982, a British submarine sunk Argentina’s only cruiser, BBC Verify reports.
Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, appears to clarify Hegseth’s statement later in the same briefing when he said that yesterday’s attack was the first time since 1945 that an American submarine sunk an enemy combatant ship.
More than 80 people were killed in yesterday’s strike, which took place off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Read more here:
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Israeli air force says it has dropped 5,000 bombs on Iran in current military campaign
The Israeli air force claimed to have dropped 5,000 bombs on Iran in its current military operation, which began on Saturday.
In a statement posted on X, it said: “Israeli air force fighter jets continue to deepen their air superiority throughout Iran, with an emphasis on the Tehran area.”
Accompanying the message was a video, which the Israeli military said was footage of a missile strike on an Iranian air defence system in Tehran.
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At least 80 people killed after US submarine torpedoes Iran warship, officials say
The Sri Lankan deputy foreign minister, Arun Hemachandra, said at least 80 people were killed after a US submarine attacked an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
Foreign minister Vijitha Herath said 180 people were on board the Iris Dena, one of Iran’s newest warships, when it issued a distress call at dawn about 25 miles south of the southern port of Galle. Sri Lankan authorities have launched a search and rescue mission to find other survivors.
The Iranian ship had taken part in a naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal from 18 February to 25 February and was heading back to Iran from an east Indian port when it came under attack, the AP news agency reported. The ‘Milan’ naval exercise hosted by India listed an Iranian ship named ‘Irins Dena’ has having taken part in the drill, according to its website.
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We have heard from Eva Kipnis, a UK professor of marketing who is stranded in Dubai by ongoing military action.
Kipnis flew out to the University of Bradford’s Dubai hub last Wednesday to teach professionals from across the region who are studying for an executive MBA.
Within 48 hours of her arrival, she found herself stranded in a high‑rise hotel, living through missile alerts, cancelled flights, and long nights sheltering in the hotel’s underground car park.
“It’s not the most impacted part of the city,” said Kipnis, who is director of the university’s doctoral college. “But when they issue a Dubai‑wide alert, you move. You listen.”
Eva Kipnis, a UK professor of marketing, is stranded in Dubai. Photograph: Eva Kipnis
When the first alarms went off, her phone lit up with a government warning and she made the now‑familiar descent 20 floors down concrete stairwells to the underground car park.
“I’ve got a little ‘go‑bag’ now,” she said. “A mat for the stairs, some nuts and chocolate, water. You just prepare.”
She was meant to fly home on Monday but her flight was cancelled. “Of course there is anxiety,” she said. “I worry about my family. My parents, my husband, my children. And know they’re incredibly worried about me.”
Her family has experience of being in a war zone. “My brother and his family were in Kyiv when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” she explained. “I helped bring them to the UK on the Ukraine family visa. It feels like we’ve swapped places.”
In Dubai, while some hotel guests chose to sunbathe by the pool, Kipnis has continued teaching, moving her lectures online. “I’m amazed by the resilience of our students,” she said.
“Those who could join came online and stayed all day. It felt surreal to talk about brands and marketing… but at the same time it was topical. We spoke about the British brand of keep calm and carry on. It helped create a sense of normality.”
A spokesperson from the Bradford university said it was extending support to all affected students, including doctoral research students.
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Updated at 09.54 EST
Key points from Pentagon briefing
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian ocean as he declared that the Iranian navy “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf” and that it was “ineffective, decimated, destroyed”.
He declared that “America is winning” and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace”.
The leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate Trump in 2024 had been killed in the strikes, Hegseth said.
Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, who also spoke at the briefing, said more than 20 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed, and that the US has “effectively neutralised Iran’s major naval presence”.
Hegseth said the US is able to continue the military action against Iran “for as long as we need to”, saying Iran “can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did”.
The Pentagon continued to deny responsibility for a strike on a girls’ school in Iran on Saturday that killed a reported 168 people. “All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.
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Two Israeli soldiers were injured when they came under anti-tank fire in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
They are believed to be the first Israeli personnel to be injured since fighting escalated between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah militants on Monday.
“Earlier today, two IDF soldiers were moderately injured as a result of an anti-tank fire toward IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
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China and Russia are ‘non-factors’ in Iran war, says Hegseth
“I don’t have a message for them, and they’re not really a factor here, and our issue is not with them,” Hegseth said of Russia and China, both of whom have longstanding diplomatic and trade ties with Iran, while Moscow has military links to Tehran.
The US defence secretary said the US focus on ending what he called “the nuclear ambitions of Iran”.
Both Russia and China have criticised the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with Moscow saying it had seen no evidence that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons while Beijing called for an immediate halt to the attacks.
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Hegseth: Iran cannot outlast us
Hegseth finished the briefing by declaring that “we set the tone and the tempo of this fight” but would not say how much longer the conflict would continue.
“The only limits we have on this is President Trump’s desire to achieve specific effects on behalf of the American people,” he said. “We could say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three. Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo.”
He added: “When we say the throttle is going up, the throttle is going up and it’s going to stay on high.”
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Hegseth says Iran can no longer shoot volume of missiles as before
Shrai Popat
Hegseth noted that the US is able to continue the military action against Iran for as long as it needs.
“The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did – not even close,” he said. “We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to.”
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