LIVE: Israel kills 2 top Iranian officials; US hits missile sites near Hormuz with 5000-pound bombs

After being snubbed by its NATO allies and China, the US has made its first major move to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The US military has announced that it had struck Iranian missile installations near the vital waterway using “multiple 5,000‑pound deep‑penetrator” bombs. “US forces successfully employed multiple 5,000‑pound deep‑penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz,” Central Command stated on X. “The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait.”

Israel killed two senior Iranian security officials in a major blow to the Islamic Republic's leadership as it faces its greatest test in decades, and Iran responded Wednesday with renewed missile and drone attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbours and Israel.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was considered one of the most powerful figures in the country since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war. Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani was the head of the Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij.

Iran confirmed the killings of both men, who were key to Iran's violent crackdown on protests in January that challenged the theocracy's 47-year rule.

Iran launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel on Wednesday as sirens sounded across the central part of the country and loud explosions were heard in Tel Aviv. Israel's medical service, Magen David Adom, said two people were killed in Ramat Gan, a district east of Tel Aviv.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab states also faced barrages of Iranian-fired missiles and drones Wednesday that were intercepted by air defence systems.

With concerns growing about a global energy crisis, an Iranian official said Tehran had no intention of relinquishing its tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killings were aimed at “undermining this regime to give the Iranian people the opportunity to remove it.” But there have been no signs of anti-government protests since the war began, as many Iranians shelter from the American and Israeli strikes.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, grousing that he has been unable to rally support behind his war of choice in Iran that he insists he's conducting for the good of the world, even if it doesn't appreciate his effort.

Trump, who has been pressing allies to help safeguard the critical waterway to ease a chokepoint on the region's oil exports, fumed that the US is not getting support “despite the fact that we helped” NATO “so much,” and said that it was in allies' interest to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon.

“You would have thought they would have said, We'd love to send a couple of minesweepers.' That's not a big deal,” Trump said. “It doesn't cost very much money. But they didn't do that.” While he expressed resentment at traditional US allies, Trump insisted he's OK with the solidifying dynamic of the conflict, which, for better or worse, will rest largely on his shoulders alone.

“We don't need any help, actually,” Trump told reporters as he hosted Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin for a St Patrick's Day visit to the White House.

Trump complained that NATO allies have counted on tens of billions of dollars in U.S. backing for Ukraine to fend off Russia's invasion, but could not return the favour to help the U.S. and Israel in its efforts to defang Iran, which has posed a threat to the Middle East and beyond for years. The U.S., he added, has spent hundreds of billions fortifying Europe and Asian defences.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia and Iran “brothers in hatred” on Tuesday as he sought support from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed momentum from US-brokered talks to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy urged Ukraine's allies not to forget about his country, and suggested the US and others should make use of Ukraine's anti-drone technology during the West Asia war that has also revived Russia's ailing economy through increased oil revenue and could soon limit Kyiv's access to vital Western air defence systems, which are needed in the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said his country is ready to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, but only as part of a mission separate from the current Middle East war.

“We are not a party to the conflict, and therefore France will never take part in operations to reopen or liberate the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron said, responding to US President Donald Trump's call for European nations to send warships to the Persian Gulf.

Speaking ahead of a security meeting at the Elysee presidential palace, he stressed any mission would require “discussions and de-escalation with Iran” and must be “entirely separate from the ongoing military operations and bombings”.

The world is not ready for a new Middle East refugee crisis, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.

Humanitarian groups are bracing for crisis as the US-Israeli war against Iran and its proxies displace millions across the Middle East, said International Organisation for Migration Brussels director Lukas Gehrke.

In Lebanon, more than a million people are displaced, and about 100,000 people, mostly Syrians, have fled into Syria, where the IOM expects 250,000 refugees might soon need food and medicine, he said.

Inside Iran, Gehrke said fighting has damaged about 55,000 civilian structures including 30,000 homes, pushing people to shelter within Iran, with IOM tracking more than half a million cars headed north.

Meanwhile the war has disrupted global supply chains, and funding cuts have hit aid agencies hard.

The World Food Programme on Tuesday said the Middle East conflict is upending its supply chains like rarely before and could push 45 million more people into acute hunger if the war lasts through June. That would be up from 319 million now.

“This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record. And it's a terrible, terrible prospect,” WFP deputy executive director Carl Skau told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Spiking food and fuel costs could price millions of families out of stable access to foods, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

As a result, he said the WFP could be “on the brink of the most severe disruption since Covid and the Ukraine war back in 2022”.

Air India and Air India Express will operate 50 scheduled and non-scheduled flights to and from West Asia on Wednesday.

Of them, 26 will be scheduled and 24 will be non-scheduled services, Air India said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Air India and Air India Express will together operate a combined total of 50 scheduled and non-scheduled flights, to and from the West Asia region on 18 March 2026," it said.

US President Donald Trump is delaying a diplomatic trip to China that had been planned for months but began to unravel as he pressured Beijing and other world powers to use military might to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Tuesday while meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office that he would be going to China in five or six weeks' time instead of at the end of the month. He said he would be “resetting” his visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, without elaborating.

Soon after pressing China and other nations to send warships to secure access to Middle Eastern oil over the weekend, Trump indicated his travel plans were up in the air, though he also indicated Tuesday that the US didn't need any help after being rebuffed by other allies.

“I think it's important that I be here,” Trump said. “And so it could be that we delay a little bit. Not much.”

Amid the escalating West Asia conflict, the government on Tuesday said around 2.44 lakh people have returned from the region to India since February 28.

At an inter-ministerial briefing here on the West Asia situation, Additional Secretary (Gulf), Aseem R Mahajan, also said that five Indian nationals have lost their lives so far amid this conflict.

One is missing in an earlier incident, while the mortal remains of two Indians who died in an incident in Oman's Sohar city recently were repatriated to India on Tuesday and have been received by their families in Jaipur.

The MEA said its Control Room remains fully functional, supporting the needs of the Indian nationals.