On Tuesday, Trump threatened to target Iran’s energy infrastructure if Tehran failed to return to talks.

Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told state media Tehran had “no reason” to abide by any agreement that did not benefit the country.

He added that Iran’s national security depended on maintaining what he described as “Iranian arrangements” in the Strait of Hormuz.

In the latest attacks, the US targeted command centres, air defence sites, and coastal surveillance facilities across Iran – including in the port city of Bandar Abbas and Greater Tunb Island – US Central Command (Centcom) said.

Explosions were heard across Iran and air defences were triggered in Tehran, Iranian state media reported.

Shortly after, US allies in the Gulf reported attacks. Kuwait’s military said it intercepted drone attacks, while Bahrain’s interior ministry told citizens to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.

The Iranian military also said it targeted US communication systems and fuel storage facilities in Jordan in its latest round of strikes.

As tensions intensify, the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway off Iran’s coast that Tehran effectively blocked in response to US-Israeli strikes – remains closed.

On Tuesday, the US said it had resumed a blockade on Iranian ports, which was previously lifted as part of a deal that was struck by the two countries last month – known as a memorandum of understanding.

The following day, the US fired on and disabled an unladen, Curacao-flagged oil tanker, which Centcom said was attempting to sail toward a blockaded Iranian port.

In response to the renewal of the US blockade, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the US that it should “expect the closure of other oil and gas export routes that serve the interests of the United States and its allies”.

It did not elaborate on which routes could be affected.

The ongoing hostilities have underscored the strategic importance of the Strait to the global economy, with a sharp rise in oil prices triggered by tanker traffic virtually stalling through the key shipping lane.

According to reports, at least 18 people died in the capital, where densely populated residential areas sustained significant damage and several neighbourhoods had to be evacuated.

“Search and rescue operations are ongoing to save people trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed residential buildings, including a 15-year-old girl and her family,” said Matthias Schmale, the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine.

In a statement condemning the violence, Mr. Schmale noted that many of Kyiv’s three million residents spent up to 11 hours in bomb shelters or taking cover at home “to the terrifying sounds of war”.

In addition to those killed in Kyiv, nearly 90 people were injured, including several children, in what the city’s mayor described as the “most massive attack”, while national media reported apartment blocks and a hotel set ablaze.

Medics hit

Among those injured were several health workers and ambulance drivers after an ambulance station was struck and several vehicles were damaged.

Nearly every part of the capital sustained damage, Mr. Schmale explained, with multiple homes, a hotel, market and other civilian facilities destroyed or damaged.

Between December 2025 and May 2026, civilian casualties increased by 40 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

Deadly pattern

“Civilians in Kyiv and across the country should not be bracing for yet another attack; they are protected under international humanitarian law,” Mr. Schmale stressed.

He noted that the latest attacks on densely populated areas across Ukraine are part of a “continuing deadly pattern”, while in Russia and occupied Ukrainian Crimea, a growing number of swarm drone attacks attributed in media reports to Ukrainian forces have caused major disruption to oil facilities and closed Moscow airports.

Across Ukraine, aid organizations provide emergency support to nearly one million people affected by strikes by Russia, whose full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022.

This vital relief includes first aid, shelter, protection, cash assistance and mental health support – a widespread but largely unseen consequence of the war.

“The loss and fear caused by this and every other attack intensify the psychological trauma countless people have to bear,” said Mr. Schmale. “The longer the war goes on, the deeper these invisible scars become.”

Matthias Schmale condemned the large-scale Russian assault on Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, which marked the third time they have been struck in as many weeks. 

“Instead of enjoying the start of the school summer break, children and their families spent the night in underground shelters, woken up by air raid sirens, explosions and uncertainty,” he said. 

While Kyiv and Dnipro were among the most heavily affected cities, explosions were also reported in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava, and Kharkiv, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported.

Russian authorities issued a statement saying that the attacks were in response to a Ukrainian attack last week in Starobilsk, Luhansk region, which reportedly killed 21 civilians, it said.

The mission noted that attack on Kyiv followed several recent public statements by Russian authorities warning of “consistent and systemic” strikes against targets in the capital.

Rescue operations 

HMRRU teams visited sites in Kyiv and Dnipro, where rescue operations were ongoing amid reports that people were still trapped under the rubble.

“Though civilians took protective measures and sought shelter, the attack killed at least 22 civilians and injured 145, including children,” said Danielle Bell, the HRMMU head.

“The loss of life, injuries, and damage to civilian infrastructure underscore the foreseeable human cost of using explosive weapons in populated areas.”

The monitoring mission cited the Ukraine Air Force which said that overall, Russia launched 656 long-range drones and missiles in the massive overnight attack, and although many of the weapons were intercepted, 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 long-range drones stuck 38 locations.

‘Senseless devastation’ 

An emergency worker in Kyiv was among those reportedly killed, HMRRU said, which highlights the risks these personnel face when assisting civilians following attacks.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed sadness over reports that a three-year-old boy was killed in Dnipro and that 10 children were injured in the attacks across Ukraine. 

“The brutal, senseless devastation of young lives must end,” the agency tweeted. 

In another post, UNICEF shared the testimony of Valeriia, a 13-year-old girl from Kyiv, who spent the night in a basement alongside her mother. 

“I thought I wasn’t going to survive,” she said. “I completely broke down and was in tears when the explosions became so powerful that they blew open the shelter door.” 

End all attacks 

Mr. Schmale noted that “the war continues to take a devastating toll on civilians and their mental health, as they have no respite, and fear and anxiety build up amid the anticipation of the next attacks across the country.” 

He stressed the need to uphold international law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including homes and hospitals. 

“The Russian Federation’s inflammatory rhetoric and escalation of attacks should stop, paving the way for a just peace,” he said. 

The UN monitoring mission said the increased use of long-range missiles and drones has been a major driver of civilian casualties in Ukraine. Figures so far this year are roughly 20 per cent higher than the same period in 2025, largely due to the increased use of long-range weapons.

At 14:15 local time on 8 April 2026, Israel launched a massive wave of strikes against Lebanon – just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran to pause fighting in the Gulf region.

Israel said it struck 100 targets in 10 minutes, dashing hopes in Lebanon that the pause in fighting in Iran would end the violence there too.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah – the Lebanese militia and political party that is funded and armed by Iran – started on 2 March after the group fired rockets into Israel, which responded with widespread air strikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Since then, more than 2,600 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and roughly a fifth of the population displaced, the UN says.

The BBC’s Nawal Al-Maghafi has been piecing together what happened that day and meeting people who lost loved ones on one of the deadliest chapters in the country’s recent history.

Read more about this story here.

Getty Images

Super flu circulating

Buckling system

Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries.

It comes after what officials describe as an unprecedented infiltration of Iranian security services by Israeli agents.

Authorities suspect information fed to Israel played a part in a series of high-profile assassinations during the conflict. This included the targeted killings of senior commanders from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and nuclear scientists, which Iran attributes to operatives of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency working inside the country.

Shaken by the scale and precision of these killings, authorities have been targeting anyone suspected of working with foreign intelligence, saying it is for the sake of national security.

But many fear this is also a way to silence dissent and tighten control over the population.

During the 12-day conflict, Iranian authorities executed three people accused of spying for Israel. On Wednesday – just one day after the ceasefire – three more individuals were executed on similar charges.

Officials have since announced the arrest of hundreds of suspects across the country on accusations of espionage. State television has aired alleged confessions from several detainees, purportedly admitting to collaboration with Israeli intelligence.

Human rights groups and activists have expressed fears over the latest developments, citing Iran’s longstanding practice of extracting forced confessions and conducting unfair trials. There are concerns that more executions may follow.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence claims it is engaged in a “relentless battle” against what it calls Western and Israeli intelligence networks – including the CIA, Mossad, and MI6.

According to Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, since the beginning of Israel’s attack on Iran on 13 June, “the Israeli spy network has become highly active inside the country”. Fars reported that over the course of 12 days, Iranian intelligence and security forces arrested “more than 700 individuals linked to this network”.

Iranians have told BBC Persian they received warning text messages from Iran’s intelligence ministry informing them their phone numbers had appeared on social media pages related to Israel. They were instructed to leave these pages or face prosecution.

The Iranian government has also stepped up pressure on journalists working for Persian-language media outlets abroad, including BBC Persian and the London-based Iran International and Manoto TV.

According to Iran International, the IRGC detained the mother, father, and brother of one of its TV presenters in Tehran to pressure her into resigning over the channel’s coverage of the Iran-Israel conflict. The presenter received a phone call from her father – prompted by security agents – urging her to quit and warning of further consequences.

After the conflict began, threats directed at BBC Persian journalists and their families have become increasingly severe. According to the journalists recently affected, Iranian security officials contacting their families have claimed that, in a wartime context, they are justified in targeting family members as hostages. They have also labelled the journalists as “mohareb” — a term meaning ‘one who wages war against God’ — a charge that, under Iranian law, can carry the death penalty.

Manoto TV has reported similar incidents, including threats against employees’ families and demands to cut all ties with the outlet. Some relatives were reportedly threatened with charges such as “enmity against God” and espionage – both capital offences under Iranian law.

Analysts view these tactics as part of a broader strategy to silence dissent and intimidate exiled media workers.

Security forces have also detained dozens of activists, writers and artists, in many cases without formal charges. There are also reports of arrests targeting family members of those killed during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” anti-government protests.

These actions suggest a broader campaign aimed not only at current activists but also at those connected to previous waves of dissent.

During the war, the Iranian government severely restricted access to the internet, and even after the ceasefire, full access has not yet been restored. Limiting internet access during crises, especially during nationwide protests against the government, has become a common pattern by Iran. Additionally, most of the social networks like Instagram, Telegram, X and YouTube, as well as news websites such as BBC Persian, have long been blocked in Iran and cannot be accessed without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) proxy service.

Human rights advocates and political observers have drawn parallels to the 1980s, when the Iranian authorities brutally suppressed political opposition during the Iran-Iraq War.

Many fear that, in the wake of its weakened international standing after the conflict with Israel, the Iranian authorities may again turn inward, resorting to mass arrests, executions, and heavy-handed repression.

Critics point to events of 1988, when, according to human rights groups, thousands of political prisoners – many already serving sentences – were executed following brief, secretive trials by so-called “death commissions.” Most victims were buried in unmarked mass graves.

BBC

More than 400 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel’s military says it’s been hitting “terror targets” across the territory.

BBC Verify’s Nick Beake has been assessing footage of the strikes and building a picture of the damage done.

Verification by Benedict Garman, Joshua Cheetham, and Shayan Sardarizadeh. Produced by Jemimah Herd. Graphics by Mesut Ersoz.

Follow live updates here