Image source, EPA

As Israel announces new "broad scale" attacks across Tehran, saying it's targeting regime infrastructure, the BBC has been in touch with locals living in the Iranian capital.

Two men messaged us on Tuesday evening, describing their fear and confusion.

"I can still hear the explosions," writes one man in his 30s. "I’m not sure if they’re just in my ears now or actually still happening at this point. I’m tired.

"Not happy anymore [at the possibility of regime change], no. Just tired. And confused as to what might happen."

Another man in his 20s writes: "I counted 30 explosions today [Tuesday]. It’s getting worse and worse every day. Today smoke filled the air inside our house.

"What do you think will be the end of this? When will it end? I just want prosperity. And peace, for all of us.

"It’s scary. Really scary. I don’t know which officials live nearby. I hope it doesn’t backfire on us and our lives because of them."

The son of late Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly survived attacks on Iran, say two Iranian sources speaking to Reuters news agency.

Mojtaba Khamenei is the second eldest child of Ali Khamenei - who was killed in an Israeli attack on Saturday - and seen as a potential next supreme leader of Iran.

Iranian state media has been reporting that a funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei is due to be held today, and our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet has more on who could lead Iran next.

We've just received an update from Kuwait's armed forces, who say they are dealing with a wave of missiles and drones.

In a post on X, Kuwait's army say they will confront and intercept them.

Following a report from Reuters news agency that the airspace above Cyprus' Larnaca airport was closed, the Cypriot government has clarified that this is not the case.

Instead, a government spokesperson says that two flights were "requested to remain in holding patterns for a short period of time" after the "possible suspicious object" was spotted.

"The captain of one of the two flights chose to return to Athens, while the second flight landed normally a short time later," adds the spokesperson.

"The airspace continues to operate normally.”

Guy Hedgecoe
Reporting from Madrid

Image source, RONALD WITTEK/EPA/Shutterstock

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has responded to threats made by Donald Trump to cut off trade between Spain and the US over Madrid’s opposition to the bombing of Iran.

In a televised address on Wednesday morning, Sánchez says that the government’s position could be summarised with the words “no to war”.

He calls for the “errors of the past” not to be repeated, referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which he says had not achieved its goals, creating insecurity and making life worse for many people.

Sánchez says that the attacks on Iran could have a similar economic impact for millions of ordinary people, and the government is looking at measures to counter this.

Yesterday Trump pledged to “cut off all ties” with Spain and described the country as “terrible” after Sánchez refused to allow the US to use its military bases to attack Iran. Madrid had labelled the attacks an “unjustified and dangerous military intervention”.

Image source, Getty Images

Cyprus says this morning that a "possible suspicious object" has been detected in the skies near Lebanon.

"For precautionary reasons, all appropriate measures have been taken by the competent authorities to investigate the incident," says a government spokesman.

Reuters is reporting that the airspace above Larnaca airport has been closed, citing a Cypriot government source.

Image source, Reuters

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has accused Donald Trump of "bombing the negotiating table out of spite", in a new post on social media.

"When complex nuclear negotiations are treated like a real estate transaction, and when big lies cloud realities, unrealistic expectations can never be met," he says. "The outcome? Bombing the negotiation table out of spite."

Trump "betrayed diplomacy and Americans who elected him", he adds.

Wyre Davies
Reporting from Beirut

Loud explosions could be heard across Beirut last night.

Here in the capital, a hotel appeared to have taken a direct hit in Hazmieh, a part of the city away from the Hezbollah strongholds in southern suburbs where previous Israeli airstrikes appear to have been concentrated.

In another sign that Israel’s bombing campaign is escalating, in the eastern Bekaa Valley at least four people were killed when buildings in the city of Baalbek were hit – many other people were injured said local rescue services.

And in the south, along Lebanon’s border with Israel thousands of people are fleeing their homes as Israel issues urgent evacuation orders for dozens of towns and villages.

These are areas from which Hezbollah is reportedly launching rockets towards northern Israel, targeting – it says – an Israeli naval base in Haifa.

A large explosion has been reported in eastern Tehran, according to Iranian state media and an AFP news agency reporter in the city.

It comes as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announces its air force has begun "broad scale strikes" on regime targets in the city.

Image source, Reuters

We're getting new pictures from Lebanon, where Israel has resumed airstrikes.

Israel says it is targeting sites linked to Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. The Israeli military again this morning warned civilians in southern parts of the capital Beirut to evacuate.

Local health officials say dozens of people have been killed in Lebanon since the Israeli attacks began.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Iranian state media reports that a funeral ceremony is to be held in Tehran for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today.

Khamenei was killed when US-Israeli attacks began on Saturday. The ceremony is reported to begin at 18:30 GMT and will last three days before the funeral procession, according to state media.

The New York Times reports, citing Iranian officials, that Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as the frontrunner to become the new supreme leader - with the decision potentially coming as early as this morning.

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz has announced that any successor that continues "the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States" and "suppress the Iranian people" will be an "an unequivocal target for elimination".

The Sri Lankan navy and air force have been sent to rescue Iranian sailors, who sent a distress call after their ship began sinking near the island, the Sri Lankan authorities say.

The foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told parliament that a distress signal from the vessel Iris Dena was received at dawn. There were reportedly 180 people on board.

Herath said 30 injured sailors on board had been transported to a hospital in the Sri Lankan port of Galle.

The cause of the sinking is not known. An opposition MP asked whether the ship had been bombed as part of the US-Israeli attacks against Iran - there has been no official response.

Image source, Reuters

Qatar has been targeted by two Iranian ballistic missiles, says its defence ministry.

One of these missiles was intercepted by Qatar's air defence systems, and the other struck the US air base at Al Udeid - the biggest American base in the region.

There have been no casualties, says Qatar.

Israel has hit dozens of military targets across Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee has announced.

The strikes targeted Basij headquarters - a paramilitary force linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards - in addition to missile launch pads and defence systems, as well as "the supply and logistics directorate affiliated with the regime's ground forces".

He adds that the IDF will continue to "intensify their strikes" on the Iranian regime's infrastructure.

Since the US-Israeli attacks began on Saturday, Iran has launched a series of attacks on US bases and allies across the region.

Images authenticated by BBC Verify show the US consulate building in Dubai in flames after being hit by a drone on Tuesday evening.

One video, filmed from a junction metres away from the consulate, shows what appears to be a drone slamming into the consulate, while another shows fire burning inside the compound and black smoke billowing into the sky.

Speaking to reporters last night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed a drone had struck a "parking lot" next to the to the consulate's chancellery building.

"All personnel are accounted for," said Rubio, adding: "We've been very fortunate, obviously, but our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terrorist regime."

The Israel Defense Forces have issued an urgent warning for civilians in parts of south Beirut to evacuate, as they continue targeting buildings they say are affiliated with Hezbollah.

Those in the Haret Hreik area should evacuate "immediately", says IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee.

Image source, EPA

Iran

Israel's military says Iran has been retaliating to its fresh wave of strikes. In the last few hours, Israel sounded alarms, warning of missiles launched from Iran.

Lebanon

Israel says it also monitored projectiles launched from Lebanon, where Israeli strikes have targeted Hezbollah. The missiles and projectiles were intercepted and there were no immediate reports of casualties, Israel says.

Shipping

The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre says it has received a report of an "unknown projectile" striking a ship off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It said the strike damaged the vessel's steel plating, but there "has been no fire or water intake". The crew are reported safe, and authorities are investigating, the UKMTO added.

Kuwait

An 11-year-old girl has died after shrapnel fell on her in a residential area of Kuwait, a spokesperson for the country's Ministry of Health says. Four members of her family, including her mother, have been taken to hospital, the spokesperson said.

Yolande Knell
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

Image source, Reuters

The US military says it has struck nearly 2,000 targets in Iran since launching its joint bombing campaign with Israel, while, it says, Iran has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2,000 drones.

The US and Israel are continuing to use intense firepower against Iran. In a video statement, Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, said the first 24 hours of their joint operation had been nearly double the scale of the shock and awe strikes that began the US-led Iraq War in 2003.

With the mission involving more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers and bombers, he said this represents "the largest build-up by the US in the Middle East in a generation".

He said American forces had destroyed 17 Iranian ships, sinking the entire Iranian navy. Now, he added, the focus was "on shooting all the things that can shoot at us".

The US and Israel say they've targeted Iran’s air defences and hundreds of ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.

In the past few hours, Israel said it was carrying out "a broad wave of strikes" on Iran while simultaneously attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also said its air defences had intercepted more missiles fired from Iran and Lebanon.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says 1,097 civilians have been reported killed in Iran since 28 February.

Of those, 181 were children under the age of 10 years old, the agency says. The number of civilian injuries has reached 5,402, including 100 children, HRANA adds.

It says there have been at least 104 attacks in the past 24 hours alone. They have hit military bases, medical centres and residential areas, HRANA says.

Hundreds more reported deaths are being reviewed.

The UK is not the only country preparing to repatriate citizens stranded abroad. Here is what other counties have said about the situation:

Australia

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was in discussions with airlines to help the 115,000 Australians stranded in the Middle East, but that evacuations would be difficult while much of the region's airspace remains closed.

France

A French government official said there were about 400,000 French nationals affected by the situation. Having urged travellers to register on the Foreign Ministry's "Ariane" system, more than 25,000 have signed up, the official said.

Germany

The German government said the tourism industry was responsible for bringing home most of roughly 30,000 Germans stranded in the region and that military repatriation is only a last resort.

Italy

A first charter flight carrying 127 Italian citizens stranded in Oman, or moved there from Dubai, landed in Rome's Fiumicino airport late on Monday. Passengers arriving in Rome credited the Italian embassy with helping them return.

Spain

Spain has begun evacuating its citizens from the Middle East, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday.

United States

The US Department of State on Monday called on Americans to immediately exit more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, but has not yet announced repatriation flights.

Image source, Reuters