Faisal Islam
Economics editor

The impact of the conflict on UK energy prices is starting to trickle through. We have seen a 3p rise in average petrol prices and 5p on diesel prices. This has come through unusually quickly and in anticipation of an impact from crude oil prices. If this continues it will add to inflationary pressures. Crude oil prices have continued to creep up, and are now about 15% higher than pre-conflict.

Gas prices have settled about 80% higher and will, if sustained, lead to chunky rises in bills - but not until July. Labour's promised cut to the energy prices cap next month will go ahead first. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also emphasised the need for energy security, which he defines as carrying on investment in domestic renewables.

Other inflationary consequences are starting to spread in global markets. Jet fuel prices have more than doubled on concerns about scarcity over a critical commodity which is not stored in huge quantities. Urea, a key precursor of food fertilisers, a third of which comes through the Straits of Hormuz, has also shot up in price.

While optimists point to the likes of the Saudis now diverting oil flows to pipelines and away from the Gulf, others point to a new pattern of conflict. Refineries and production facilities in four separate Gulf countries appear to have been targeted by missiles or drones.

While the disruption to date has been the by-product of the conflict, the question arises as to whether the targeting of economic infrastructure is now central to Iran’s response. Such an escalation would raise risks, and prices, even more.

Nick Beake
Europe Correspondent reporting from Dubai

We’re hearing that a French plane travelling to the Middle East to repatriate citizens had to turn back earlier because of missile fire in the region.

France’s Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the Air France-chartered flight had been due to pick up French nationals from here in the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Tabarot said the turning round of the French plane underscored the instability in the region and the complexity of safely carrying out repatriation operations.

Tonight, new phone alerts were sent to people in Dubai warning of incoming Iranian fire. The alert was later lifted.

UAE authorities said six Iranian missiles and more than 100 drones were intercepted on Thursday. There were no reported deaths or serious injuries.

The United States has suspended operations at its embassy in Kuwait's capital, the State Department said in a statement.

While there are no reported injuries to US personnel, the State Department said the safety of Americans abroad remains its highest priority.

"US citizens in Kuwait should depart the country, if they can do so safely, using commercial or other available transportation options. US citizens unable to depart should shelter in place," it added.

Image source, Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "not to expand the war to Lebanon".

Macron calls for the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, which operates inside Lebanon, to stop firing towards Israel, put down its weapons, and "show that it is not a militia taking orders from abroad".

He also calls on Israel to refrain from putting troops on the ground or launching a "large scale operation" in Lebanon.

He says: "The Lebanese authorities have given me their commitment to take control of the positions held by Hezbollah and to fully assume responsibility for security across the entire national territory.

"I give them my full support. France will strengthen its co-operation with the Lebanese armed forces and will provide them with armoured transport vehicles, as well as operational and logistical support."

He adds that "everything must be done" to prevent Lebanon "once again being drawn into war".

For context: Hezbollah is a non-state military force that operates in Lebanon, supported by Iran.

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Beirut

Image source, BBC/Alice Cuddy

It’s night-time here in Beirut and I’ve been speaking to people sleeping on the streets and in their cars after being forced to leave their homes in the city’s southern suburbs.

"We’re going to stay in our car tonight. There’s nowhere else to go. The shelters are full," one man says as he smoked shisha with his family on a pavement in central Beirut.

Nearby, a 23-year-old woman sitting with her two-month-old daughter said she fled immediately after Israel issued its unprecedented order telling hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes.

"I just brought nappies. I didn’t even bring milk," she said, adding that she was worried about what the night would bring.

Another woman in the park who arrived from Dahieh - a stronghold of Iran-backed group Hezbollah - cried as she spoke of her fear over what was happening.

"I got used to the sounds [of bombing] in the house. I didn’t want to leave," Monira Hassan said.

"I don’t know what to say anymore. I just wanted to stay at home."

Others voiced their support for Hezbollah, with one man saying he was not afraid to die to "defend and protect our land".

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

A resident in eastern Tehran has told BBC Persian they are being woken up to the sound of explosions and shaking windows.

"I am deeply sorrowful that with every explosion, part of the country’s human and material capital vanishes into thin air, and with each day the war continues, we fall another year behind in economic development," Amir says.

Mim, who is based in Isfahan in central Iran, says Israel and the US have attacked all defensive industries that existed there.

"War brings nothing but destruction, death, and the annihilation of a country’s national and human resources," they add.

Meanwhile, Javad, who is based in Mashhad in the north east of Iran says that the area has become quieter than usual after explosions were heard during the first few days of strikes.

Elsewhere, Davoud says there is a different atmosphere in Kurdistan.

He says that Sanandaj in the west of Iran has been bombed more than 10 times but people remain hopeful for the future.

BBC Persian is the Persian language service of BBC News, used by 24 million people around the world - the majority in Iran - despite being blocked and routinely jammed by Iranian authorities.

The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is "moving to the next phase of the operation" against Iran, insisting it will "further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities".

IDF Chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir says Israel and the US have been "strategically isolating" Iran and bringing it to a point of weakness "unlike any it has known”.

He says that for six days Israel has been striking Iran "without pause" and the "operation is proceeding at the pace we planned it to advance at".

He writes in a statement: "After completing the surprise strike phase, in which we established air superiority and suppressed the ballistic missile array, we are now moving to the next phase of the operation.

"In this phase, we will further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities. We have additional surprises ahead which I do not intend to disclose."

His statement then moves to the situation in Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah made "a strategic error" for joining the fighting and that Israel are "striking with force, on the front line and deeper in Lebanon".

Sadaf Maruf and Kris Bramwell
BBC News

BBC Your Voice has been speaking to British Iranians in the UK who have managed to get in touch with friends and relatives in Iran amid internet outages.

Cyrus, an ambulance driver in London, says the family and friends he’s speaking to in Iran are both happy and scared about the attacks.

Yesterday he managed to get a message from his mother, Zizzi, in Tehran, through a friend who contacted him. She says she is staying put, and if the regime falls she will be out cooking food for whoever takes over.

Kian, not his real name, is a 35-year-old British Iranian who says his family is worried about his elderly grandmother who lives alone, after finding out there was an explosion on the road adjacent to her block.

Getting through to her is difficult, he explains, and if they're lucky they may get a quick call from a landline before it cuts off after a minute.

Kian also says there's a lot of disappointment within the Iranian diaspora around how the strikes have been covered. He says media coverage has been one-sided, and in favour of the Iranian regime.

Ashkan, a 31-year-old who lives in Birmingham, has family in the city of Mashhad, which he says has suffered fewer strikes than western Iran. A friend tells him: "People are happy, they are not scared of the regime anymore."

Iranian drone carrier captured in new satellite imagerypublished at 19:42 GMT 5 March

19:42 GMT 5 March

By Joshua Cheetham and Barbara Metzler

A new satellite image appears to show an Iranian drone carrier on the move north of Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, days after the US said it had struck it.

BBC Verify showed the picture, captured this morning by Planet Labs PBC, to analysts at defence intelligence firm Janes, who say it’s highly likely to be the IRIS Shahid Bagheri.

On Monday, the US military said it "struck the ship within hours of launching Operation Epic Fury".

The carrier is a converted container vessel, launched in February 2025. It’s the first drone carrier to be operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy.

Janes analysts say it’s unclear from the image if the ship is damaged, "but it does appear to be making way under its own power".

"It is a converted container ship and there is a fair bit of buoyancy and empty spaces built into that design, so it could have been hit and not sunk," they add.

Image source, Planet Labs PBC

Kuwait's army said in the last couple of hours that its air defences have been dealing with missile attacks and drones in the country's airspace.

Sounds heard in certain areas across Kuwait are coming from air defences intercepting missiles and drones, the army says in a translated post on X.

Trump's comments indicate he plans to take an active role in shaping Iran's political futurepublished at 19:10 GMT 5 March

19:10 GMT 5 March

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

Nearly one week into the attack on Iran, President Donald Trump is beginning to sketch out his vision for a post-war Iran.

A White House official confirmed to the BBC that Trump opposes Mojtaba Khamenei - the son of Iran's former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - taking over as the country's next leader.

Trump told Axios on Thursday that it would be an "unacceptable outcome" for the 56-year-old Mojtaba to succeed his father, who was killed in US airstrikes in the first days of the war.

The younger Khamenei has reportedly emerged as a frontrunner to become the country's top leader.

The president also told Axios and other news outlets that he wants to play a direct role in picking Iran's next leader.

Trump likened the situation to Venezuela, where he threw his support behind Delcy Rodríguez to lead the country after the US captured former President Nicolás Maduro in January.

The comments were the first indication that Trump plans to take an active part in shaping Iran's political landscape once the war is over.

Trump has spoken about the United States' military objectives since the start of the war, but hadn't previously discussed in detail any potential replacements for Khamenei.

Trump's comparison of Iran to Venezuela was striking, especially for a president who made a campaign trail promise to disentangle America from foreign conflicts.

He appointed himself the chairman of the Board of Peace, a new entity he has established and tasked with rebuilding Gaza and determining its political fate after the war with Israel.

Trump waded into Venezuela's leadership fight. And now Trump is adding Iran to the list of foreign governments he wants a direct say in.

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Cyprus

The drone that hit RAF Akrotiri last Sunday night was "tiny", the BBC’s been told, which is why it was harder to detect.

The payload was apparently correspondingly small, creating a hole in a hangar on the base.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey says the British warship HMS Dragon, which is being sent to Cyprus, will arrive "within the next couple of weeks".

The UK has "got more jets in Cyprus than any other nation" and "400 air defence specialists on top of what we would normally have", he says.

"That's because we want to make sure we can defend our British personnel, we can defend our British base, we can defend this island of Cyprus and we're defending also allies across region," he says.

Asked if he could rule out the UK joining the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, he does not directly say.

"The nature of any war, and any conflict, is that it changes," he says.

"We just don't know for sure what the Iranians will do," he says, adding that the UK will adapt its action to ensure the protection of the British people, forces and allies.

He also confirms that a siren went off while he has been visiting a UK base in Cyprus.

He was in a windowless room preparing for a Cobra meeting with the prime minister when a siren went off, he says.

We can bring you an update now on UK defence operations in the Middle East.

Defence sources say:

• The UK will rapidly deploy four additional Typhoon jets to Qatar to support regional defensive operations - as Starmer mentioned earlier

• RAF F-35B and Typhoon fighter jets took part in further defensive operations overnight, including over Qatar and Jordan
• Across the UK’s bases in Cyprus, 400 additional UK personnel sent over past weeks are supporting air defence activities
• British counter-drone specialists who have worked closely with Ukrainian experts have deployed to the region

Verified footage shows destroyed buildings in southern Lebanonpublished at 17:56 GMT 5 March

17:56 GMT 5 March

By Emma Pengelly and Richard Irvine-Brown

BBC Verify has been examining videos showing destruction from reported Israeli strikes in rural southern Lebanon today.

In the town of Toul, one verified video shows at least two buildings damaged, one of which has been partly destroyed, with rubble stretching across the major road through town.

The partly-destroyed building is listed online as a sweet shop.

In Kfar Tebnit, around 7.5km (five miles) to the east, a video shows destruction across large area.

About a third of an acre of land is still smouldering, with nothing left standing.

According to recent high-resolution satellite imagery, at least two buildings former stood on the site, one listed online as a shoe shop.

About 1,000 vessels held up near the Hormuz strait, expert sayspublished at 17:33 GMT 5 March

17:33 GMT 5 March

By Kayleen Devlin

The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), which represents insurers operating in the London insurance market, has welcomed US engagement to support the movement of non-sanctioned vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, saying safe passage is vital for global trade and economic stability.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the US Navy will protect ships in the Middle East "if necessary", as well as announcing he had ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide risk insurance "at a very reasonable price for trade traveling through the Gulf.

Neil Roberts, LMA’s head of marine and aviation, tells BBC Verify that about 1,000 vessels - half of which are oil and gas tankers - remain in the Gulf and surrounding waters.

“Most ships remain anchored primarily due to the understandable concerns of shipowners and masters for the safety of their vessels and crew,” he says, adding that insurance cover “is and remains available”.

Since Sunday, Roberts says about 40 ships have transited the strait. Data from shipping analytics firm Kpler, shared on Wednesday, indicates traffic through the waterway is around 90% lower compared to the previous week.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

It is very difficult to know exactly what is happening in Iran amid internet outages, but the BBC has managed to speak to some people inside the country who are able to connect momentarily.

A woman in her 20s​​ says: "This internet situation is making people even angrier. Some people watch the strikes from their rooftops. The city has become very quiet and empty."

Some have left the city for fear of the strikes. A man in his 20s, who has left the capital with his family, says: "I’d never seen an explosion up close before. I actually saw it with my own eyes from inside the house.

"I saw a light suddenly shoot up into the sky. All the windows in the house started shaking. My family was so frightened you wouldn’t believe it."

But some have not been able to leave the city.

"It is tiring and I’m feeling trapped. It feels tiring and entrapping because I have to stay mostly at home to avoid getting caught in the middle of an attack, just to save my life," a man in his 30s, from Tehran, says.

"And the sound of ongoing blasts is fatiguing in some sense. Each one just swallows a chunk of your energy."

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Contacting people within Iran is difficult because of the internet shutdown in the country - but BBC Persian has been in touch with some residents of Tehran about strikes in the capital city.

Names have been withheld due to concerns for the safety of sources in Iran.

One man, living in east Tehran, says "it's not even comparable to the recent protests. But when a bomb hits and the house shakes, it is frightening".

A woman, also in east Tehran, tells BBC Persian that at around 09:00 local time, people go up to their rooftops and sit there "waiting for the strikes to happen".

"When fighter jets pass overhead, people wave goodbye to them and whistle. They say they simply can’t tolerate the Islamic Republic anymore," she adds.

Another woman says from what she can see in Tehran "everyone’s happy" even though they're "stressed because of the sounds" of the strikes.

"People are saying they hope the rest of the officials get hit so we can be rid of them. Then maybe it’ll turn into a situation where people come out into the streets," she adds.

BBC Persian is the Persian language service of BBC News, used by 24 million people around the world - the majority in Iran - despite being blocked and routinely jammed by Iranian authorities.

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump has said he needs to be "involved" in the appointment of Iran's next leader, according to a report from Axios, external, which has interviewed the US president.

According to Axios, Trump referenced reports that the son of Iran's former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on Saturday, could be named as his successor.

"They are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela," Trump is quoted as saying. "Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran."

Delcy Rodríguez is the current interim president of Venezuela. She replaced Nicolás Maduro after he was seized by US forces in January.

The BBC has reached out to the White House for comment.