Azerbaijan lodging "strong protest" after, it says, 2 Iranian drones hit its territory, injuring 2 civilians
Azerbaijan says Iran launched what it calls "drone attacks" on its territory and one of them injured two civilians.
Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said in a statement that one drone crashed into and damaged the terminal at Nakhchivan Airport and another crashed near a school in the village of Shekarabad, hurting two civilians.
"We strongly condemn these drone attacks," the ministry said, adding that it was demanding an explanation and reserving "the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures."
It said it's summoning Iran's ambassador and will lodge a "strong protest" over the attacks.
Iran claim that it hit U.S. oil tanker in Persian Gulf debunked
Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed that it hit a U.S. oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf and the vessel was on fire, according to state media.
The claim came a day after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka and the same day Iran's foreign minister asserted that the U.S. would come to "bitterly regret" the sinking.
But the maritime security agency Vanguard said the attack actually appeared to have hit the Bahamas-flagged ship Sonangol Namibe off the coast of Kuwait.
The British maritime security agency UKMTO said there was an explosion of the port side of the tanker that caused an oil leak from its cargo tank.
And public tracking data showed the tanker about 30 nautical miles southeast of Mubarak al Kabeer, Kuwait, when it was hit.
An ayatollah calls for "shedding" of blood from Trump and Israelis
Iranian state television aired a message Thursday from an ayatollah in Iran calling for the "shedding" of blood from Israelis and President Trump.
The message came from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli and represented one of the few clerical statements coming from Iran as it faces a combined airstrike campaign from Israel and the United States.
"We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance," he said in the statement.
He called for "the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump's blood."
"The Imam of the time says, 'Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,'" the ayatollah added.
U.S. "will come to bitterly regret" submarine sinking Iranian ship, Iran's foreign minister says
Iran's foreign minister said Thursday that America "will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set" when a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka.
The comment by Abbas Araghchi represents the first time the Iranian government acknowledged the sinking of the IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean.
Araghchi made the comment on social media, saying "the U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores."
"Frigate Dena, a guest of India's Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning," he wrote. "Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set."
Israeli strike kills Hamas official, Lebanese state media says
Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike killed a Hamas official on Thursday, the first reported targeted killing of a member of the Palestinian terrorist group since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered regional war.
Wassim Atallah al-Ali and his wife were killed when an "enemy drone targeted their home" in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, in a pre-dawn strike, the National News Agency reported, describing the man as a senior Hamas official.
Pentagon says unclassified video shows Iranian mobile missile launchers destroyed in strikes
U.S. Central Command late Wednesday night posted an unclassified video which it said showed Iranian mobile missile launchers being destroyed in U.S. strikes.
"The effort to eliminate the Iranian regime's mobile missile launch capabilities continues," CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, wrote in a social media post. "We are finding and destroying these threats with lethal precision."
Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday night also posted video which it said showed an Israeli strike destroying an Iranian ballistic missile launcher in the area of Qom, a city located about 80 miles south of Tehran, and another strike on an Iranian defense system in the city of Isfahan, which is located about 270 miles south of Tehran.
The IDF said that the ballistic missile launcher was "armed and ready" to be used to launch toward Israel.
Army Reserve identifies fifth service member killed in Kuwait
The Army Reserve on Wednesday released the name of a fifth soldier killed in Kuwait during the ongoing war with Iran.
They were identified as Maj. Jeffrey R. O'Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa.
O'Brien died Sunday, along with Capt. Cody A. Khork, Sgt. 1st Noah L. Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack, the Defense Department said. They were all assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines.
The Pentagon also announced Wednesday that Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California, "is believed to be" the sixth soldier who "perished at the scene" in Kuwait, and that positive identification will be done by a medical examiner.
Marzan's brother, Vic Marzan, told CBS News Sacramento Wednesday night in a statement: "My brother died for our country. He was a lifetime serviceman. Loved his family and country."
Canada's Carney, Australia's Albanese call for de-escalation in Iran war
The Canadian and Australian prime ministers on Thursday local time called for a de-escalation of the Iran war but added that the Iranians must never gain a nuclear weapon.
Canada's Mark Carney and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese discussed the war during their trade meeting in Australia's capital, Canberra.
"We want to see a broader de-escalation of these hostilities with a broader group of countries than just the direct belligerents involved," Carney said during a news conference with Albanese.
