Iran lashes out with missiles as Israel says war still intensifying

Operations at the Habshan gas facility and Bab oil and gas field in Abu Dhabi have been suspended as authorities deal with falling debris from a successful missile interception, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said Wednesday.

No injuries were reported at either site, the office said.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said in a statement that it “expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the blatant Iranian attack targeting Ras Laffan Industrial City, which caused fires resulting in significant damage to the facility.”

Qatar had earlier said it was targeted by five ballistic missiles launched from Iran, and successfully intercepted four, with the fifth striking Ras Laffan.

Ras Laffan is the world’s largest liquid natural gas export terminal. Roughly 20% of the world’s supply moves through the facility, feeding Europe, Asia and beyond.

The strike came just hours after Israeli fighter jets targeted Iran’s South Pars field, the shared gas reservoir with Qatar. This is at least the second time Ras Laffan has been targeted in the war. An earlier strike forced parts of the facility offline.

According to Tasmin, Iran’s semi-official news agency associated with the IRGC, Iran’s military says it has begun attacking other countries’ energy infrastructure in response to the U.S. and Israel’s “grave error in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic Republic.

“If it is repeated, the subsequent attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not cease until their complete destruction, and our response will be far more severe than tonight’s attacks,” the IRGC said.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is heading to the U.S. Navy base on the Greek island of Crete for repairs after a fire broke out on board last week, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News.

The 5th Fleet said two sailors were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry spaces last Thursday. The cause of the fire wasn’t combat-related, the fleet said.

The Ford had been operating in the Red Sea.

USNI News, the U.S. Naval Institute’s news outlet, first reported the Ford was heading to port for repairs.

The Iranian paramilitary force known as the Basij has been making a notable increase in arrests leading to severe punishments against people who own devices from the satellite internet service Starlink, according to reports from inside Iran.

Possession of a Starlink device includes selling, owning or moving them. Those caught with Starlink devices are accused of being spies for the U.S. and Israel, and they face punishments ranging from interrogations and beatings to executions.

On Wednesday, authorities announced the execution of a Swedish Persian national accused of sending photographs and information to Israel. Part of the indictment included possessing Starlink and other communication devices.

Russia is benefitting financially from the war with Iran, analysts tell CBS News, as Tehran’s retaliatory strikes paralyze crude oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and send global energy prices skyward.

The U.S. Treasury issued a 30 day waiver last week on sanctions imposed on Russian energy sales over Moscow’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The waiver allows Russia to sell oil that was already loaded onto tankers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the waiver a “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” to “promote stability in global energy markets,” and he insisted it would not “provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.”

Some analysts, and Russia, disagree.

Read more here.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, marking the central bank’s second consecutive pause in 2026. In its policy statement, the Fed said U.S. economic uncertainty remains elevated, adding that the impact of the war also remains unclear.

The central bank is facing a murkier economic outlook for the U.S., with the war causing energy prices to spike and threatening to drive up inflation.

Read more here.

President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and other top officials are attending the dignified transfer for six service members who died in the war.

The transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware won’t be televised.

The six service members being honored Wednesday were Air Force airmen killed in a KC-135 crash last week.

The Pentagon identified them as: Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio.

Nearly 120,000 Syrians have returned to their country from neighboring Lebanon since the latest war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Another 7,000 non-Syrians entered Syria from Lebanon as of Tuesday, according to figures from the UN agency’s Displacement Tracking Matrix.

Lebanon, which hosts around one million Syrians who fled their country’s civil conflict starting in 201, was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, attacked Israel in retaliation for U S.-Israeli strikes.

Israel has responded with intense strikes on Lebanon and ground operations in the south, where the health ministry said four Syrians were killed on Tuesday.

Syria has so far stayed out of the regional war.

More than half a million Syrians returned from Lebanon last year, according to the UN refugee agency, following the 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was supported by Iran and Hezbollah.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reiterated at a Senate hearing Wednesday that the intelligence community assessed that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was “obliterated” in strikes against Iran last year.

“So the assessment of the intelligence community is that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated by last summer’s air strikes,” Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia asked Gabbard.

“Yes,” she responded.

Ossoff asked her whether there had been “no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.”

“Correct?” he asked.

“That’s right,” she said.

Ossoff also asked whether the intelligence community assessed that there was an imminent nuclear threat posed by the regime. Gabbard said Iran “maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment” and only the president “can determine what is and is not an imminent threat.”

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” Gabbard said. “That is up to the president, based on a volume of information that he receives.”

President Trump hasn’t made up his mind on whether he wants to send American forces intoIran and seize the country’s nuclear material, which would be a very dangerous operation, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

He has told people close to him: “I have a lot of decisions to make.”

The Pentagon has prepared multiple options for the president as potential next steps in the Iran war.

Read more here.

The Kuwaiti army said Wednesday that its air defense system destroyed four hostile ballistic missiles and 20 drones.

Another three drones were detected within Kuwaiti airspace and fell “outside the threat zone without posing any danger.” It said no material damage was reported.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday he disagrees with Joe Kent, who resigned from the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday over the Iran war. Kent said “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation” and that he could not support the war.

“Is there anything to indicate that Iran had ceased in its nuclear ambitions or in its desire to continue to build ballistic missiles capable of threatening American troops and allies in the Middle East?” Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, asked Ratcliffe at a Senate hearing.

“No, in fact, the intelligence reflects the contrary,” Ratcliffe said.

“So you disagree with Mr. Kent?” Cornyn said.

“I do,” Ratcliffe said.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday that strikes against Iran have diminished the regime’s power, although it remains capable of attacking U.S. interests in the Middle East.

“The regime in Iran appears to be intact but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities,” she said at a Senate hearing. “Its conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options. Iran’s strategic position has been significantly degraded.”

“Even so,” she said, “Iran and its proxies remain capable of and continue to attack U.S. and allied interests in the Middle East. The IC assesses that if a hostile regime survives, it will seek to begin a yearslong effort to rebuild its missiles and UAV forces.”

Gabbard and other top intelligence officials are testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee at a hearing on national security threats facing the U.S.

The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday that the targeting of energy facilities associated with the South Pars field in Iran constitutes a “dangerous escalation.”

“Targeting energy infrastructure poses a direct threat to global energy security,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“It also entails serious environmental repercussions and exposes civilians, maritime security, and vital civilian and industrial facilities to direct risks,” it added.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that he has “been in contact with many allies” and “we all agree” that the Strait of Hormuz has to reopen.

“And what I know is that allies are working together, discussing how to do that, what is the best way to do it,” he said. “They are working on that collectively, to find a way forward.”

Speaking at a news conference during a visit to a NATO exercise in northern Norway, Rutte also commented on Iranian nuclear capability.

“When it comes to Iran, and the risk of Iran getting its hands on a nuclear capability, or a ballistic missile capability, we have consistently said, as NATO, collectively, that that cannot happen,” he said.

“So, it is really crucial that that capability of the ballistic missiles, of the nuclear capability, is severely degraded,” he added.

The U.S. military says it has struck more than 7,800 targets in Iran and damaged or destroyed over 120 Iranian vessels since the start of its operation.

The military has conducted over 8,000 combat flights, according to U.S. Central Command, which said it is “prioritizing locations that pose an imminent threat.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has confirmed the death of intelligence minister Esmal Khatib, who Israel said earlier Wednesday it killed in Tehran in an overnight airstrike.

In a post on X, Pezeshkian called the killings of Khatib, Ali Larijani and defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh cowardly assassinations, and said they were killed along with some of their teams and family members.

President Trump has decided to temporarily waive the Jones Act, a 100-year-old statute that requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed. It also limits the number of tankers domestic shippers can use.

“President Trump’s decision to issue a 60-day Jones Act waiver is just another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the U.S. military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday on X.

“This action will allow vital resources like oil, natural gas, fertilizer, and coal to flow freely to U.S. ports for sixty days, and the Administration remains committed to continuing to strengthen our critical supply chains.”

Waiving the rule would allow foreign ships to move fuel between U.S. ports, helping to ease supply disruptions and potentially lower energy prices, according to experts.

The Trump administration can temporarily lift the Jones Act if it determines a waiver is necessary for national defense. But the measure could have only modest cost-saving benefits, according to the Center for American Progress. The nonpartisan think tank estimates that waiving the law would reduce gas prices by only three cents per gallon.

Read more here.

The spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry lambasted Israel for apparently targeting an Iranian oil field on Wednesday as “dangerous and irresponsible” and a “threat to global energy security, as well as to the peoples of the region & its environment.”

Israeli “targeting of facilities linked to Iran’s South Pars field, an extension of Qatar’s North Field, is a dangerous & irresponsible step amid the current military escalation in the region,” said Majed al-Ansari, who is also a senior advisor to Qatar’s leader and a longtime prominent figure in the Gulf state’s government.

“We reiterate, as we have repeatedly emphasized, the necessity of avoiding the targeting of vital facilities,” al Ansari said in a statement posted in both English and Arabic on social media. “We call on all parties to exercise restraint, adhere to international law, & work toward de-escalation in a manner that preserves the security & stability of the region.”

Iran’s state television published a threat Wednesday saying that the Islamic Republic would attack oil and gas infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the next few hours.

It threatened Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and its Jubail Petrochemical Complex, as well as the UAE’s Al Hasan Gas Field, and the petrochemical plants and a refinery in Qatar. It warned all employees and residents in the areas to evacuate immediately.

The threat – which resembled other attack warnings put out by Iran during the war, copying the style used by the Israeli military – comes after Iran said its South Pars gas field and associated infrastructure was attacked earlier Wednesday. Firefighters on-site worked to contain the blaze, and there was no immediate report on if anyone had been hurt.

The attack on South Pars field involved Phases 3, 4, 5 and 6, Iranian state TV reported. They blamed Israel and the U.S. for the attack. It said it had shut down those phases of the field to stop the spreading fire.

The UAE said Wednesday that its air defense forces intercepted 13 ballistic missiles and 27 drones launched from Iran.

The defense ministry said that since the start of the Iran war, its air defenses have intercepted 1,699 drones, 327 ballistic missiles and 15 cruise missiles.

“These attacks have resulted in the deaths of two UAE armed forces personnel performing their national duty, and six civilians of Pakistani, Nepali, Bangladeshi, and Palestinian nationality,” it said in a statement.

“Additionally, 158 people of various nationalities—including Emirati, Egyptian, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Filipino, Pakistani, Iranian, Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Azerbaijani, Yemeni, Ugandan, Eritrean, Lebanese, Afghan, Bahraini, Comorian, Turkish, Iraqi, Nigerian, Omani, Jordanian, Palestinian, Ghanaian, Indonesian, Swedish, and Tunisian—sustained injuries ranging from minor to severe,” it added.

President Trump floated the idea on Wednesday of destroying what’s left of Iran’s theocratic regime and then leaving other countries to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route Iran’s incessant missile and drone fire has gridlocked since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Tehran.

“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!,” Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Israel has vowed to continue assassinating senior Iranian leaders as and when it gets intelligence enabling its forces to target them, but the regime in Tehran has proven resilient thus far, maintaining firm control over the country.

As for the Strait of Hormuz, analysts say that even though the U.S. imports relatively little oil from the Gulf, the interconnectivity of global energy markets means the closure of the shipping lane will keep gas prices high.

Mr. Trump’s comment about “allies” appeared to be his latest criticism of countries not heeding his call to send military forces to help escort tankers through the strait, including some that rely much more directly on oil exported from the Gulf region.

Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that the country would escalate its war against Iran, and its parallel assault on the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, clearly signaling an escalation of the conflict in the heart of the Middle East.

“The intensity of attacks in Iran is increasing. We are in the midst of achieving a decisive outcome,” Katz said in his video message, shared on social media.

“Israel’s policy is clear and unequivocal: no one in Iran has immunity, and all are targeted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and I have authorized the IDF to neutralize any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for additional approval. We will continue to intercept and hunt them all,” he said.

“Significant surprises are also expected throughout today across all arenas, which will escalate the war we are conducting against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

The head of Iranian regime’s powerful judiciary branch, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, claimed on Wednesday that despite Israel assassinating a growing number of senior figures in Tehran, there was “no disruption in the will of the people, the administration of the country, or the management of affairs.”

He acknowledged that “several of our people,” including commanders, had been “martyred,” but said even “under these conditions, the country remains stable.”

An official in Iran’s western Lorestan province said Wednesday that seven people were killed and 56 others wounded by U.S.-Israeli strikes on “densely populated residential areas of Dorud County.”

Judiciary officials earlier said an attack hit the region, killing and wounding civilians and judicial staff.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Iran’s Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib was killed in an overnight strike in Tehran.

Katz warned of more “significant surprises” coming Wednesday, across multiple arenas, signaling a possible escalation of operations against both Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He said Tuesday that Israeli officials had authorized commanders to target any senior Iranian figure pinpointed by intelligence without seeking approval from leadership.

“The intensity of attacks in Iran is increasing,” Katz said.

Israeli strikes on central Beirut killed at least 12 people on Wednesday morning, the Lebanese health ministry said, adding that the strikes hit the Basta and Zuqaq al-Blat neighborhoods in central Beirut.

A strike also hit an apartment building in Bachoura, central Beirut, completely flattening it as day broke, The Associated Press said.

Israeli strikes targeting central Beirut have become increasingly frequent in recent days, with or without prior warning. The attacks have hit far from the city’s southern suburbs, for which the army issued evacuation notices early in the war with Hezbollah.

Lebanese officials put the overall death toll from Israel’s escalating offensive in the country at over 900 people on Wednesday, taking the latest strikes in Beirut into account. More than one million people have been displaced in the country, or roughly a sixth of the entire population, according to Lebanese officials.

CBS/AP

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the kingdom would host a consultative meeting on Wednesday of the foreign ministers of a number of Arab and Islamic countries, “with the aim of achieving further consultation and coordination on ways to support security and stability of the region.”

Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would attend the meeting to discuss developments in the region, following an announcement by Ankara that Fidan would embark on a regional trip aimed at ending the Iran war.

About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war with Iran. Maritime and trade data platforms report it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when it said it closed the key waterway for vessels of the U.S. and its allies.

Analysts say Iranian oil export volumes remain resilient. Many of the vessels that have passed through the Strait are so-called “dark” transits evading Western sanctions that likely have ties with Iran.

More recently, vessels with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments stepped up negotiations.

Two people were killed near Tel Aviv overnight as debris from the interception of an Iranian missile fell onto homes. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response agency said police reported several impact sites around the city, and that amid the debris in an apartment building in the Ramat Gan area, there were “two unconscious casualties, with no pulse and not breathing, with severe injuries to their bodies.”

CBS News national security correspondent Charlie D’Agata says Iran’s latest retaliatory attacks on Israel have included cluster bombs. Designed to overwhelm Israel’s multi-layered air defense systems, they release dozens of small bomblets in the air, which looked like comets as they streak through Tel Aviv’s night sky before raining down indiscriminately across the city.

Defense officials have told CBS News that if it wasn’t for Israel’s air-defense and early warning systems, the death toll would likely be much higher.

So far 14 people have been killed by Iran’s attacks in Israel, while two others have died of medical circumstances related to the strikes.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a social media post that American forces had “successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz” on Tuesday.

CENTCOM said the Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles at the targeted sites had “posed a risk to international shipping in the strait.”

Iran has virtually shut the vital shipping lane down to international oil traffic since the war began by targeting commercial vessels, but those attacks have relied on air and sea drones at least as much as they have on missiles.