IDF announces Iranian military chief is dead: Live updates

The head of Iran’s Military Office Abu al-Qassem Baba’iyan has been killed in the latest wave of attacks, the IDF has claimed on X.

The military official was also the Chief of Staff of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

He is the latest major figure in the regime to be killed in Israeli strikes.

An IDF statement today said: ‘Baba’iyan was responsible for coordinating between the Iranian terror regime’s various force employment organizations to execute operations and emergency operations.’

Iran has responded to the US bombardment by launching a wave of missiles over the UAE.

If you’re just joining us, here are the main developments:

• A ‘river of fire’ engulfed Iran after an oil spill ignited Tehran amid ongoing US-Israeli air strikes.
• Israel says it will ‘pursue every successor’ of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran appoints its next Supreme Leader.
• Donald Trump criticises Sir Keir Starmer again, telling him: ‘We don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won.’
• At least 10 explosions were then heard over Tel Aviv as Iran sent a wave of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the overnight strikes.
• And a new wave of missiles targeted the UAE with hundreds of missiles and almost 1,500 drones detected, most of which were destroyed.

Iran’s capital erupted into flames as Israel and the US launched a fresh wave of devastating strikes in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The skies over Tehran turned a disquieting red and filled with acrid smoke after several oil and fuel depots were blown up across the Iranian capital.

Huge fireballs could be seen erupting across the city’s skyline, while residents complained of a lingering burning smell in the air, as both the US and Israel doubled down on their pledge to fight until the ‘eradication’ of the Iranian regime.

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Hezbollah has claimed it shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon – in a claim the IDF has yet to respond to.

The terror group said in a statement it had shot down an Elbit Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle on Sunday in ‘response to the criminal Israeli aggression that targeted dozens of Lebanese cities and towns, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut’.

Israeli strikes have targeted Lebanon since Monday and resulted in a Beirut hotel being partially destroyed this weekend.

The IDF has not commented on the claims.

There has been much speculation over who will succeed Ali Khamenei as the next leader of Iran, with various clerics’ statements contradicting each other.

In an interview with ABC News today, US President Donald Trump said whoever the Iranians pick as Khamenei’s successor is ‘going to have to get approval from us.’

But the country’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said no foreign state will get a say in the decision.

‘This is up to the Iranian people to elect their new leader,’ he told NBC News.

‘They have already elected the Assembly of Experts and the Assembly will do their job. It’s only the business of the Iranian people and nobody else’s business.’

As reported earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Cyprus on Monday as France deploys warships to the Mediterranean – but Sir Keir Starmer is staying put.

Macron will meet Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides and Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Paphos to show ‘solidarity’ and detail moves to ‘strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean’, the Elysee said on Sunday.

It comes after drone attacks on RAF Akrotiri on March 1, which saw the families of British personnel evacuated after strong blasts hit the base.

Cyprus was again targeted by Iranian-made drones on Monday, leading Macron to order France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean.

In his latest video statement, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu directly addressed the Iranian people, telling them: ‘Liberation will depend on you.’

He suggested that one day the two countries could be ‘brave friends’ once again, but only if the population rises up against the current leadership.

Netanyahu added: ‘We seek to liberate Iran. To liberate it from the yoke of tyranny and leave in peace with it.

‘But at the end of the day, liberation from the yoke of tyranny will depend on you, the brave and long-suffering people of Iran.’

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has claimed the country is not looking for a ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel.

He added that ‘aggressors’ should be punished for their actions.

‘If the enemy attacks us from any country, Tehran will respond decisively,’ he told state TV.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian previously apologised for strikes in the region and promised they would cease – before resuming the onslaught on Gulf states just hours later.

Iran’s main oilfields in the south of the country have seen their production levels fall off a cliff edge in the days since the start of the conflict.

Production has plummeted 70 per cent to just 1.3 million barrels per day while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, blocking Iran from exporting its oil.

Oil prices are set to soon hit $100 a barrel and that could rise to $150 if the war drags on, industry experts warned.

Major oil sites were hit by Israeli strikes over the weekend amid continued escalation.

A seventh US soldier has died since the conflict with Iran started last week.

The serviceman’s identity remains unknown but United States Central Command confirmed he was seriously wounded in an attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia last Sunday.

A statement added: ‘This is the seventh service member killed in action during Operation Epic Fury.

‘Major combat operations continue. The identity of the fallen warrior will be withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.’

New images show the devastation wrought by Israel’s strikes on al-Ghaziyah in Sidon, an industrial area of Lebanon.

Civil defence and health teams today inspected the scene of a building destroyed by Israeli warplanes.

Elsewhere, Israel targeted a hotel in Beirut, with the IDF claiming the attack killed five key Iranian commanders.

The Israeli Air Force has destroyed the Tehran headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ air force in the recent flurry of strikes, the IDF has confirmed.

The HQ was used by Iran to ‘manage the fire of missiles and drones at Israel and countries in the region’, according to a spokesman for the force.

It comes after the IDF claimed it had killed a IRGC military chief in the latest bombardment.