Iran

LOVE Island beauty Ella Barnes has revealed she was evacuated from Dubai airport amid Iran missile strikes.

The influencer, 25, who starred on the ITV show in 2023, took to Instagram to explain her flight had been cancelled.

Ella posted an image of the empty airport to her social media account and captioned it: “Got evacuated out of Dubai airport and my flight home cancelled.

“Guess, I’ll be staying here a little longer.”

A scared Ella, later posted snaps of missiles in the air and wrote: “Missiles in the sky.

“No this is so scary. Listen to how loud the explosion is at the end. WTF.”

thaw-blimey

Love Island’s Ella Barnes strips off to lace lingerie in the snow

glam girl

Love Island’s Ella Barnes leaves nothing to the imagination in see-through dress

However, earlier today, Ella posted a snap of her driving along a deserted highway and wrote: “We are out of here. Thanks for all the messages. Had so many”

Ella found fame in Love Island 2023, and stole Sheffield lad Mitch Taylor, 28, from his partner Abi Moores, 25, after entering the matchmaking series as a bombshell.

Ella and Love Island alum Mitch announced their split at the end of August 2023, with two separate statements on social media.

Since then, Ella has seen her screen career go from strength to strength.

She bagged a role on TOWIE as the love interest of Roman Hackett prior to their split.

She then became loved-up with her wealthy entrepreneur man Neil Farrugia after the pair made their relationship official  in 2024.

But, she split from the hunk last year as the pair struggled to find time to see each other after a year of dating.

Ella is based in Kent in the UK, while fitness fanatic Neil who previously dated fellow Love Islander Gemma Owen, lives in Malta.

On Saturday, black smoke was seen billowing across the skyline in Dubai after debris from Iran’s missile blitz across the city.

Iran launched a barrage of rockets at nations across the Middle East after vowing revenge for Trump and Israel’s huge blitz on the rogue nation today.

The United Arab Emirate’s top holiday hot spot Dubai is usually a sought after travel destination for celebrities and influencers.

In more recent-times, celebrities from the United Kingdom have been emigrating there, with many Brit celebs choosing Dubai as the place they want to bring up their families.

Sam Gowland from Geordie Shore shared how a “rocket” flew over his home.

“Right above us on the Palm in Dubai today, bloody scary, I tell you that. Never heard a noise like it before,” he penned.

He then later shared a photo of a rocket near his home, writing: “Rocket above my house wtf this is crazy.”

Love Island star Arabella Chi, who relocated from the UK to Dubai with her partner, Billy Henty, and their daughter, Gigi, in 2025, has also shared posts about the scary time she is enduring.

“Dubai friends. Scary times. Stay safe,” she penned on her Instagram stories.

Just hours before the missile strikes, Arabella and her partner were playing with their daughter in the sand.

As Israel and the United States attacked Iran, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began to panic. They remembered how crossings were closed in the past, causing famine, and rushed to markets to buy whatever they could. As a result, prices of food and basic necessities skyrocketed. Soon enough, the news came that the border crossings had been closed.

All of this happened just as the grace period set by Israel for 37 NGOs to withdraw from Gaza for not fulfilling registration requirements expired. Organisations like Doctors Without Borders (also known by its French acronym MSF), Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, Handicap International: Humanity & Inclusion, ActionAid, CARE, etc were supposed to stop operating in Gaza.

At the last moment, a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court allowed them to continue working while it considers their appeal against the ban. But even with this court decision, these organisations cannot continue to function fully. That is because the Israeli occupation continues to prevent their supplies and foreign staff from entering Gaza.

According to these NGOs, together they are responsible for half of the food handouts in the Strip and 60 percent of services provided in field hospitals.

For many families in Gaza, this means hunger – because food parcels will not be distributed and livelihoods will be lost.

We know this is not about NGOs failing to meet new registration rules, just like the closure of the border crossings is not a matter of security. They are about exacting yet another form of collective punishment on the Palestinians.

Even if the Supreme Court miraculously rules against the NGO ban, the Israeli occupation would still find another way to push these foreign organisations out of Gaza. This was made clear this month when it was revealed that World Central Kitchen, which has been running dozens of soup kitchens across the Strip and which is not on the ban list, may be suspending its activities.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, this was because Israel blocked most of the organisation’s supply trucks from coming in. As a result, there are not enough supplies to continue cooking. World Central Kitchen previously said it serves 1 million meals daily.

So now, amid the war with Iran, which may last weeks or months, hundreds of thousands of families will not have adequate food once again.

All of this comes on top of Israel’s continuing war on UNRWA. Since its creation in late 1949, the United Nations agency has been the backbone of international support for Palestinian refugees. It has the largest capacity for emergency response and the widest spectrum of services on offer. And yet, Israel has banned its operations and has blocked its supplies from entering the Strip.

Through relentless lobbying, Israel has managed to achieve substantial cuts to UNRWA’s budget. As a result, last month 600 employees were fired. The salaries of the rest were reduced by 20 percent.

The NGO ban will likely result in thousands of people losing their jobs as well. And this is at a time when unemployment in Gaza has gone beyond 80 percent.

My family will also suffer. In the past, we have benefitted from food and basic supplies handouts from NGOs, and my brother has been able to find temporary work as a driver for one of them.

The possible closure of international organisations is a direct threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians who depend on their services and employment. The closure of the border crossings could mean another hunger crisis.

These are a form of collective punishment that yet again will not make the news. Israel is constantly thinking of new ways to make our lives that much more unbearable, that much more impossible in our devastated homeland.

Two and half years of the Israeli genocide has destroyed hospitals, schools, universities, roads, sewage and potable water systems, water treatment plants, the electricity grid, and countless generators and solar panels.

The vast majority of the population lives primitive lives in tents or makeshift shelters that cannot protect people from extreme heat or cold.

Water is contaminated, food is insufficient, land has been destroyed and poisoned.

Now we will be deprived of the little international support we have been receiving.

And what is the goal of all this? To push us ever closer to despair and the ultimate surrender, to make us desire to leave our homeland on our own. Ethnic cleansing by mutual agreement.

All of the organisations that Israel is seeking to ban are foreign. Most of them are based in Western countries. Yet there has been little to no condemnation from Western governments of Israel’s actions against their own organisations. There has been no outrage that the occupation is trying to destroy international humanitarian provision so it can fully control aid distribution.

Collective punishment is a violation of international law. States are obliged to go beyond verbal condemnations and take action by imposing sanctions. Until that happens, we in Gaza will continue to be subjected to ever more brutal acts of collective punishment by our occupiers.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, member of a constitutional watchdog, appointed to temporary council, along with Iranian president and chief justice.

Iran has announced the formation of a three-member transitional council to handle the state duties following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, member of a powerful constitutional watchdog, was appointed on Sunday to the temporary council, whose other two members are President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme Court Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.

The 67-year-old cleric, who is a member of the Guardian Council that must later choose a supreme leader, was confirmed to the council by the Expediency Council, a powerful arbitration body.

According to Article 111 of the Iranian Constitution, the transitional council will govern the country until an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts chooses a new supreme leader after almost 37 years of rule by Khamenei.

His killing on Saturday by the joint United States and Israeli forces has raised crucial questions about Iran’s future.

Although the leadership council will govern in the interim, the Assembly of Experts “must, as soon as possible,” pick a new supreme leader, according to the Iranian constitution.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani are also expected to play pivotal roles in the transitional council, but it remains to be seen where the balance of power lies.

The commander-in-chief of the IRGC was also killed in the US-Israeli attack on Saturday – the second such killing in less than a year – and the next leader of the elite military and economic force is yet to be announced.

IRGC-linked Telegram channels are citing deputy chief Ahmad Vahidi, who was appointed to the position by Khamenei two months ago, as a likely candidate.

Earlier on Sunday, Larijani accused the US and Israel of trying to plunder and break apart Iran and warned “secessionist groups” within Iran of a harsh response if they attempt action, state media said.

“The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will teach an unforgettable lesson to the international oppressors,” he said.

A former parliamentary speaker and senior policy adviser, Larijani was appointed to advise Khamenei on strategy in nuclear talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

The crossing with Egypt is considered vital for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of critically ill patients.

Israel has closed Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt amid the joint Israeli-United States attacks on Iran.

“Several necessary security adjustments have been implemented, including the closure of the crossings into the Gaza Strip, among them the Rafah Crossing, until further notice,” Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.

The Rafah crossing, located on Gaza’s southern border, had reopened only last month, allowing a limited number of Palestinians to leave for the first time in months, including patients in urgent need of medical care.

The crossing is considered vital for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of critically ill patients.

Virtually all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people was displaced during Israel’s genocidal war on the territory, and the enclave remains heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance.

In mid-February, the United Nations said it continued to face impediments in delivering lifesaving aid to Gaza.

In a February report, Human Rights Watch said Israeli restrictions had contributed to shortages of medicines, reconstruction materials, food and water inside the Strip.

COGAT claimed that sufficient food had entered Gaza since the start of the ceasefire to meet four times the nutritional needs of the population. However, it did not provide any evidence to back its claim.

“The substantial quantities of food that have entered since the beginning of the ceasefire amount to four times the nutritional needs of the population,” the Israeli defence body said. “Therefore, the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period.”

It added that “the closure of the crossings will have no impact on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip”, saying it would remain in contact with the international community and provide updates on any developments.

COGAT is the Israeli military body responsible for overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory. Critics say it functions as an instrument of surveillance and control, particularly in enforcing movement restrictions and closures.

Thousands of Brits are thought to be stranded in the Middle East after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran

A travel expert has issued three words of crucial advice for people stranded in the Middle East following US and Israeli air strikes on Iran. Simon Calder made the remarks after hundreds of thousands of travellers found themselves stuck in destinations such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi in the wake of the attacks.

Numerous airlines, including British Airways, Emirates, and Qatar Airways, grounded flights following Iranian retaliatory strikes throughout the region. When flights will resume normal service remains unclear, with thousands of Britons believed to be stranded.

Speaking on Radio 5 Live, Mr Calder had three key words he urged travellers to follow: “At the moment, the best advice I have for anyone who is stuck in various parts of the world is: just be patient.”

The situation will be resolved – I hope, very much sooner rather than later,” he added. “What we have seen is the extraordinary sight of the big three of Middle Eastern hubs – Dubai International, Doha, and Abu Dhabi – all closing because of the retaliatory strikes from Iran. We have never seen that. The last thing of this scale we saw in this area like that here was the Covid pandemic.

READ MORE: Travel expert Simon Calder predicts when BA, Etihad and Emirates flights will resume after Iran attackREAD MORE: Nationwide customers’ three steps needed to qualify for free £100 payout

“Consider this. More than a quarter of a million passengers were due (on Saturday) to fly to and through Dubai International Airport alone. It is bigger than Heathrow Airport, handles more passengers, and everyone is desperate to get where they need to be.

“I have been speaking to people who were about to take off, they had the ‘boarding complete’ announcement, and suddenly the captain said, ‘Sorry, airspace closed, we are staying here’. It took them three hours to get off the aircraft because they all had to be processed through immigration, leaving them in a place where they really didn’t want to be. Many of them were just off a previous flight a few hours before and were waiting to travel on to their final destination of London Heathrow.”

It was subsequently confirmed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the strikes, casting serious doubt over the future of the Islamic Republic. The death of Mr Khamenei, following decades in power, has triggered furious scenes across other parts of the Middle East and beyond, heightening the threat of potential regional instability.

Dubai International ranks as the world’s busiest airport, processing roughly 250,000 passengers daily. Doha Airport in Qatar handles approximately 150,000 travellers each day, meaning enormous travel chaos as both airports continue to be affected.

Doha holds particular significance for British passengers flying to and from the Middle East, Asia and the UK. Mr Calder went on to say: “Some people are in the difficult position of being stranded on the wrong side, and they are trying to get back to the UK but finding that air passenger rights rules – which are great when you are flying from Europe – don’t work the same way when you are flying to Europe on a non-UK or non-EU airline.

“They can basically just say, ‘well, good luck, we’ll try and get you there in a week or you can take a refund’. It’s really, really difficult Airlines like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, they are not legally obliged to find hotel accommodation for all these stranded passengers and get them back as soon as possible but hopefully they will do so.

“The other problem for people whose flights have been cancelled, when flights resume, they go to the back of the queue. If flights resume on Monday, anybody who has a flight booked on Monday will fly on Monday, and people whose flights were cancelled over the weekend – and we are talking hundreds of thousands now – they are going to be finding that they are at the back of the queue, scrabbling for whatever available seats there are.”

Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says Iran’s attacks on US targets across the region are legitimate defensive actions.

Iran is entitled to defend itself from Israeli and US attacks, the spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stressed.

“We have every right in accordance with international law, with the UN Charter, to defend ourselves with all might”, Esmaeil Baghaei said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday.

The US and Israel launched a wave of attacks across multiple Iranian cities, including Tehran, on Saturday, in what US President Donald Trump described as “major combat operations”.

At least 201 people have been killed, according to Iranian media, citing the Red Crescent.

Iran responded by firing missiles towards Israel and US military targets in multiple countries, including Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Baghaei said the country’s armed forces “are defending national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Iran against these barbaric acts of aggression”.

The US-Israeli attacks came after a third round of indirect negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme between the US and Iran ended on Friday.

“We were supposed to meet on Monday to talk about technical aspects of any possible deal on [the] nuclear issue,” Baghaei said. “And the Americans themselves acknowledged that these negotiations went quite well. The mediator, [the] foreign minister of Oman, qualified this round of negotiations as being of significant progress.”

It was the second time in less than a year that diplomacy had been scuttled by an attack on Iran, Baghaei noted. Iran and the US had engaged in several rounds of negotiations last year, when Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran in June, which the US briefly joined, despite Trump saying he was committed to a diplomatic resolution.

Baghaei said the US “launching an act of aggression against another member of the United Nations” also threatened the international body, as its main pillar, “the UN Charter, is the provision of the use of force.”

“So, I think what is at stake is not only the security and peace of the region and that of Iran, but also the whole fabric of international law. And the normative system that has been created by the United Nations Charter,” he added.

Friends in the region

Baghaei defended Iran’s retaliatory attacks in several countries across the region.

“Under international law, any place, any location, any logistical support that are given to the aggressor [is a] legitimate target for the victim state,” he said. “So, we are not attacking any country in the region. We are friendly with all countries of the region. What we are doing is just taking defensive actions.”

“We have proven that we trust our friends in the region,” Baghaei said. “That’s why we try to get together with the countries of the region in furtherance of this diplomatic process. The problem is that the United States is conducting this war of aggression at the cost of everyone, including the countries of the region.”

Iran has begun 40 days of mourning after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in ongoing attacks by the United States and Israel, according to Iranian state media.

Top security officials were also killed in Saturday’s strikes, along with Khamenei’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. The killings mark one of the most significant blows to Iran’s leadership since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the killing as “a great crime”, according to a statement from his office. He also declared seven days of public holidays in addition to the 40-day mourning period.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said people were pouring into the streets of the capital following the news of Khamenei’s killing.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, noting they would likely take place amid continuing bombardment across the country.

Protests denouncing Khamenei’s killing were also reported elsewhere, including Shiraz, Yasuj and Lorestan.

“There will be expected ceremonies,” he said, noting they would likely take place amid continuing bombardment across the country.

Footage aired by Iranian state media showed supporters mourning at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, with several people seen crying and collapsing in grief.

The killing also led to protests in neighbouring Iraq, which declared three days of public mourning. In Baghdad, protesters confronted security forces in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraqi government buildings and foreign embassies.

Videos verified by Al Jazeera showed demonstrators waving flags and shouting slogans, with witnesses saying some were attempting to mobilise towards the US Embassy. Footage also showed protesters blocking vehicles at a roundabout near one of the entrances to the area.

There was also a protest in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where footage, verified by Al Jazeera, showed people setting fire to and smashing the windows of the US consulate.

However, there have also been reports of celebrations in Iran, with the Reuters news agency quoting witnesses as saying some people had taken to the streets in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj and the central city of Isfahan.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency reported that a three-person council, consisting of the country’s president, the chief of the judiciary, and one of the jurists of the Guardian Council, will temporarily assume all leadership duties in the country. The body will temporarily oversee the country until a new supreme leader is elected.

Khamenei assumed leadership of Iran in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Islamic revolution a decade earlier.

While Khomeini was regarded as the ideological force behind the revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy, Khamenei went on to shape Iran’s military and paramilitary apparatus, strengthening both its domestic control and its regional influence.

Attacks across the region

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pledged revenge and said it had launched strikes on 27 bases hosting US troops in the region, as well as Israeli military facilities in Tel Aviv.

Explosions have continued to be reported in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while security alerts are in place in several countries across the region.

US President Donald Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, warned Iran that it would be hit “with a force that has ⁠never been seen before” if it retaliated.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks since Saturday have targeted Israel and US assets across multiple Middle East countries, including Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Harlan Ullman, chairman of the strategic advisory firm Killowen Group and an adviser to the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, said the US may have made a “big mistake” by killing Khamenei.

“Decapitation only works when you get all the leaders, and I don’t think that we got all the leaders,” Ullman said, adding that the US should not expect Iran’s leadership to enter negotiations in the immediate aftermath.

Iranian state media reported on Saturday at least 201 people have been killed in the joint US-Israeli attacks across 24 provinces, citing the Red Crescent. In southern Iran, at least 148 people were killed and 95 wounded in a strike on an elementary girls’ school in Minab on Saturday, with the toll continuing to rise, according to state media.

The United States and Israel have attacked Iran, and Tehran has retaliated, firing missiles at Israeli targets and US assets in the region.

The attacks come after weeks of Washington’s massive build-up of military assets in the Middle East, as well as indirect talks between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme.

So, how dangerous is the situation?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Daniel Levy – president of the US/Middle East Project and a former Israeli negotiator

Mehran Kamrava – professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar

Richard Weitz – senior fellow at the NATO Defense College in Washington, DC

BBC Breakfast’s Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden returned to our TV screens on Sunday’s (March 1) morning to deliver the day’s headlines

BBC Breakfast’s latest broadcast started with a distressing news update on the “most devastating offensive operation in history”.

During Sunday’s (March 1) episode of the BBC hit show, Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden returned to our screens as they delivered the day’s top headline stories from the UK and around the globe.

However, just moments into the live broadcast, Roger shared the news that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.

Rachel also revealed: “The Red Crescent says more than 200 people have been killed in the strikes with state media reporting at least 85 deaths following one air strike on a school in Iran.

“Overnight the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would attack US bases and Israel in retaliation for Khamenei’s death with what it called ‘the most devastating offensive operation in history of the Islamic Republic.”

This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos. You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.

US President Donald Trump says Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes. Israeli officials cite “growing signs” he’s dead. Iranian state media deny the claim, saying Khamenei remains in command. At least 201 reported killed as Iran retaliates.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says striking Iran was necessary to protect American allies, prevent proxy militias, and to ensure that Tehran can never “threaten the world with a nuclear weapon.”

British Airways has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, Bahrain and Amman with passengers offered free changes or refunds – as travellers are warned they may need to ‘get creative’ amid mass disruption

Travellers will need to “get creative” if they want to fly in the coming days, an expert has cautioned, with hundreds of thousands of people stranded or rerouted to alternative airports following widespread airspace closures throughout the Middle East.

Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain have all closed their airspaces. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 recorded no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, with the UAE government announcing a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.

British Airways has confirmed flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain will remain suspended until next week, whilst flights to Amman, Jordan, were scrapped on Saturday.

READ MORE: Donald Trump tells Iran ‘better not’ strike after Ayatollah Khamenei killedREAD MORE: Dubai airport chaos: Emirates confirms when flights will resume as Brits scramble to flee

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This resulted in the shutdown of crucial hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, and the scrapping of over 1,000 flights by leading Middle Eastern carriers, reports the Express.

The three principal airlines operating from those airports – Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad – typically handle approximately 90,000 passengers daily through those hubs, with even greater numbers of travellers bound for Middle Eastern destinations, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Dubai international airport ranks as the world’s busiest airport for international flights.

Aviation industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group Henry Harteveldt said, via AP: “For travellers, there’s no way to sugarcoat this… you should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.

“Travellers should anticipate that there will be a lot of disruptions,” he said, before adding: “To be honest, if you haven’t left home, chances are you won’t be leaving home if you’re supposed to travel to or through these destinations for at least several days, if not longer. And if you are returning home, you will have to be very creative about how you get home.”

BRITISH AIRWAYS: FULL STATEMENT ON FLIGHTS TO AND FROM THE MIDDLE EAST.

BA released an official statement on its website late on Saturday (February 28) for passengers who may be affected by the rapidly developing situation in the Middle East.

Here is the statement in full:. “We are closely monitoring the situation and have cancelled a number of our flights to the Middle East. Safety is always our top priority and we would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so.

“If you are due to fly between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai or Tel Aviv you can change your flight free of charge up to and including 6 March. Customers travelling up to and including 4 March may also request a full refund.

“Should you wish to do so, please ring our contact centres on 0800 727 800 within the UK or 020 3250 0145 where a member of our team will be happy to assist. You can also find useful information, including details of your consumer rights, at ba.com/helpme..

“Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you on board soon.”

BA’s statement comes as airlines serving the Middle East cancelled or diverted flights en masse on Saturday in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes against on Iran.

Iran hit back by launching a wave of attacks, targeting Israel and four Gulf Arab nations hosting US military bases – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Wizz Air were amongst the carriers to reduce their schedules to Middle Eastern destinations, citing safety concerns. The UK Foreign Office urged British nationals in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to immediately shelter in place following explosions.

UK Foreign Office issues advice for Britons trapped in Dubai.

For any Britons currently in the UAE, the Foreign Office released new guidance overnight.

All citizens already present in the UAE are strongly encouraged to notify the UK government by registering their presence to receive further updates as the situation continues to develop across the Middle East. “Due to reported missile attacks, British nationals in the UAE should immediately shelter in place. Remain indoors in a secure location, avoid all travel and follow instructions from the local authorities.”

The FDCO also advised British nationals in the UAE to take sensible precautions, taking into account their own personal circumstances.

• – Read the UK Government’s fact sheet If you’re affected by a crisis abroad. This includes guidance on how to prepare for a crisis with suggestions on what you might include in your emergency supplies and what to do in a crisis.
• – Follow advice from the local authorities and sign up to receive information and alerts. Read the FDCO fact sheet: National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority’s guidance across numerous emergencies.
• – Sign up to FCDO Travel Advice to get email notifications on updates as they happen.

Follow our live blog for the latest travel updates by clicking here.

EXPLAINER

The former defence minister and secretary of Iran’s Defence Council was involved in US-Iran nuclear negotiations.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Defence Council and close adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been killed in Israeli and US strikes on Iran.

An Israeli military spokesperson said he was among several top Iranian officials killed on Saturday.

There was no immediate comment from Tehran on his fate.

The 70-year-old was overseeing the negotiations between the US and Iran over the Iranian nuclear programme, the latest round of which concluded on Friday.

“If the main issue of the negotiations is not making nuclear weapons by Iran, this is in compliance with a religious decree issued by Iran’s leader and the country’s defence doctrine, and an immediate agreement is within reach,” Shamkhani said on Thursday.

Shamkhani had also been targeted in an Israeli strike in June 2025, during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. There were reports that he had been killed in the attack, but he was later confirmed to have survived. He was pulled from the rubble of his home, and had sustained severe injuries.

He was recently appointed the secretary of Iran’s Defence Council, which was created after the war and coordinates Iran’s defence and national security policies, while mobilising resources to address threats.

In January, he warned that Iran’s response to any US military action would be “immediate, all out, and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all those supporting the aggressor”.

He led the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for a decade until 2023, making him the second-longest-serving security chief since 1979 after former President Hassan Rouhani, who was SNSC secretary for nearly 16 years.

Born in Ahvaz in Iran’s Khuzestan, Shamkhani and his family moved to Los Angeles in the United States when he finished school. He later returned to Iran, where he studied engineering.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Shamkhani was a commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and went on to be a commander of both of Iran’s navies, the IRGC Navy and the Iranian Navy.

He was the minister of defence between 1997 and 2005, and was the first Iranian defence official to visit Saudi Arabia since the revolution. He also came third in the 2001 presidential elections before returning to his role as defence minister.

Figures from across the United States political spectrum have reacted to President Donald Trump’s joint attack with Israel on Iran, with Republicans largely expressing support and Democrats failing to offer a robust and unified response.

The attacks have reportedly killed at least 201 people, including more than 80 in a school in southern Iran, many of them children.

Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on Israel as well as US bases across the region, located in countries such as Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait, prompting fears that the conflict could spiral out of control and plunge the region into violence.

An initial YouGov poll conducted on February 28, after the strikes, suggested that 33 percent of US adults approved of the US attacking Iran, while 45 percent disapproved. Among Democrats and Independents, approval was just 10 percent and 21 percent, respectively, while 68 percent of Republicans expressed support.

Here’s how some of the US’s most prominent elected representatives and political figures have reacted.

President Donald Trump: “A short time ago, the United States military started major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.”

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson: “Today, Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions. President Trump and the Administration have made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s sustained nuclear ambitions and development, terrorism, and the murder of Americans—and even their own people.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune: “For years, Iran’s relentless nuclear ambitions, its expanded ballistic missile inventory, and its unwavering support for terror groups in the region have posed a clear and unacceptable threat to U.S. servicemembers, citizens in the region, and many of our allies. Despite the dogged efforts of the president and his administration, the Iranian regime has refused the diplomatic off-ramps that would peacefully resolve these national security concerns. I commend President Trump for taking action to thwart these threats.”

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Donald Trump failed to seek Congressional authorization prior to striking Iran. Instead, the president’s decision to abandon diplomacy and launch a massive military attack has left American troops vulnerable to Iran’s retaliatory actions. We pray for the safety of the men and women of the US military as they have been put into harm’s way in a dangerous theatre of war.”

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat. Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”

Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib: “The American people do not want a war with Iran. Trump is acting on the violent fantasies of the American political elite and the Israeli apartheid government, ignoring the vast majority of Americans who say loud and clear: No More Wars.”

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic. Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The president walked away from these discussions and chose war instead.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani: “Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression. Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theatre of war.  Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace.”

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders: “This Trump–Netanyahu war is unconstitutional and violates international law. It endangers the lives of U.S. troops and people across the region. We’ve lived through the lies of Vietnam and Iraq. No more endless wars. Congress must pass a War Powers Resolution immediately.”

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen: “Trump is lying to the American people as he launches an illegal, regime-change war against Iran. This is endangering American lives and has already resulted in mass civilian casualties. This is not making us safer & only damages the US and our interests. The Senate must immediately vote on the War Powers Resolution to stop it.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham: “I fervently pray that the long-suffering people of Iran will have their oppression ended soon. I also fervently pray that we’re on the verge of a new dawn in the Middle East, with historic opportunity for lasting peace and prosperity. As to our allies in Israel, President Trump and all under his command, your bravery has set in motion the end of evil and darkness, and the beginning of the light. Well done.”

Democratic Representative Ro Khanna: “Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on Representative Thomas Massie and my WPR [War Powers Resolution] to stop this. Every member of Congress should go on record this weekend on how they will vote.”

Republican Representative Thomas Massie: “I am opposed to this War. This is not “America First.” When Congress reconvenes, I will work with Representative Ro Khanna to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran. The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”

Republican Senator Tom Cotton: “Iran’s missile program poses an imminent threat to the United States and our allies. I’m thankful President Trump is taking necessary action to protect our homeland.”

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff: “Trump is drawing our country into yet another foreign war that Americans don’t want and Congress has not authorised. The Iranian regime is a brutal and murderous dictatorship. But that does not give Trump the authority to unilaterally initiate a war of choice.”

Democratic Senator John Fetterman: “Operation Epic Fury. President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region. God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”

Former Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris: “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.”

Former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene: “We said “No More Foreign Wars, No More Regime Change!” We said it on rally stage after rally stage, speech after speech. Trump, Vance, basically the entire admin campaigned on it and promised to put America FIRST and Make America Great Again. My generation has been let down, abused, and used by our government our entire adult lives and our children’s generation is literally being abandoned.”

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York on Saturday afternoon, US Ambassador Mike Waltz said the strikes were “directed toward specific and strategic objectives: to dismantle missile capabilities that threaten allies, to degrade naval assets used to destabilise international waters, and to disrupt the machinery that arms proxy militias and to ensure the Iranian regime, never ever can threaten the world with a nuclear weapon”.

President Donald Trump stood in front of regional leaders during a visit to the Middle East in May and declared a new era of US foreign policy in the region, one that is not guided by trying to reshape it or change its governing systems.

“In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,” the US president said in rebuke of his hawkish predecessors.

Less than a year later, Trump ordered an all-out assault on Iran with the stated goal of bringing “freedom” to the country, borrowing language from the playbook of interventionist neoconservatives, like former President George W Bush, whom he spent his political career criticising.

Analysts say the war with Iran does not fit with Trump’s stated political ideology, policy goals or campaign promises.

Instead, several Iran experts told Al Jazeera that Trump is waging a war, together with Israel, that only benefits Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“This is, once again, a war of choice launched by the US with [a] push from Israel,” said Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC.

“This is another Israeli war that the US is launching. Israel has pushed the US to attack Iran for two decades, and they finally got it.”

Mortazavi highlighted Trump’s criticism of his predecessors, who had waged regime-change wars in the region.

“It is ironic, because this is a president who called himself the ‘president of peace‘,” she told Al Jazeera.

History of warnings of the Iranian ‘threat’

Netanyahu, who promoted the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, has been warning for more than two decades that Iran is on the cusp of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb, and even Trump administration officials have acknowledged that Washington has no evidence that Tehran is weaponising its uranium enrichment programme.

After the US bombed Iran’s main enrichment facilities in the 12-day war in June last year – an attack that Trump says “obliterated” the country’s nuclear programme – Netanyahu pivoted to a new supposed Iranian threat: Tehran’s ballistic missiles.

“Iran can blackmail any American city,” Netanyahu told pro-Israel podcaster Ben Shapiro in October.

“People don’t believe it. Iran is developing intercontinental missiles with a range of 8,000km [5,000 miles], add another 3,000 [1,800 miles], and they can get to the East Coast of the US.”

Trump repeated that claim, which Tehran has vehemently denied and has not been backed by any public evidence or testing, in his State of the Union address earlier this week.

“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” he said of the Iranians.

Trump has been building the case for a wider war with Iran since the June conflict, repeatedly threatening to bomb the country again.

But the US president’s own National Security Strategy last year called for de-prioritising the Middle East in Washington’s foreign policy and focusing on the Western Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, the US public, wary of global conflict after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has also been largely opposed to new strikes against Iran, public opinion polls show.

Only 21 percent of respondents in a recent University of Maryland survey said they favoured a war with Iran.

The first day of the war saw Iran fire missiles against bases and cities that host US troops and assets across the Middle East in retaliation for the joint US-Israeli strikes, plunging the region into chaos.

Trump acknowledged that US troops may suffer casualties in the conflict. “That often happens in war,” he said on Saturday. “But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.”

‘Ignoring the vast majority of Americans’

The Trump administration had appeared to step back from the brink of conflict earlier this month by engaging in diplomacy with Tehran.

US and Iranian negotiators held three rounds of talks over the past week, with Tehran stressing that it is willing to agree to rigorous inspections of its nuclear programme.

Omani mediators and Iranian officials had described the last round of negotiations, which took place on Thursday, as positive, saying that it yielded significant progress.

The June 2025 war, initiated by Israel without provocation, also came in the middle of US-Iran talks.

“Netanyahu’s agenda has always been to prevent a diplomatic solution, and he feared Trump was actually serious about getting a deal, so the start of this war in the middle of negotiations is a success for him, just like it was last June,” Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), told Al Jazeera.

“Trump’s embrace of regime change rhetoric is a further victory for Netanyahu, and loss for the American people, as it suggests the US may be committed to a long and unpredictable military boondoggle.”

While announcing the strikes on Saturday, Trump said his aim is to prevent Iran from “threatening America and our core national security interests”.

But US critics, including some proponents of Trump’s “America first” movement, have argued that Iran – more than 10,000km (6,000 miles) away – does not pose a threat to the US.

Earlier this month, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that “if it were not for Iran, there wouldn’t be Hezbollah; we wouldn’t have the problem on the border with Lebanon”.

Carlson said, “What problem on the border with Lebanon? I’m an American. I’m not having any problems on the border with Lebanon right now. I live in Maine.”

On Saturday, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib stressed that the US public does not want war with Iran.

“Trump is acting on the violent fantasies of the American political elite and the Israeli apartheid government, ignoring the vast majority of Americans who say loud and clear: No More Wars,” Tlaib said in a statement.

Democratic lawmakers have largely condemned the strikes on Iran, emphasizing the lack of congressional approval.

Lawmakers from the Democratic Party have condemned the US attacks on Iran as a “dangerous” and “unnecessary” escalation, and called on the Senate to immediately vote on legislation that would block the president’s ability to take further military action without congressional approval.

Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees and the primary author of the war powers resolution, called President Donald Trump’s order to attack Iran a “colossal mistake”.

“The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of US forces in hostilities against Iran,” Kaine said in a statement on Saturday. “Every single Senator needs to go on the record about this dangerous, unnecessary, and idiotic action.”

House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed Kaine, saying that House Democrats are committed to forcing a floor vote on a measure to restrict Trump’s war powers regarding Iran.

“Donald Trump failed to seek Congressional authorisation prior to striking Iran. Instead, the President’s decision to abandon diplomacy and launch a massive military attack has left American troops vulnerable to Iran’s retaliatory actions,” he said in a statement. “The Trump administration must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately.”

The push for a legislative check on Trump’s executive power has gained significant bipartisan momentum in the Senate, of which the Republican Party maintains a slim majority.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded on Saturday that Congress be briefed immediately about the Iran attacks, including an all-senators classified session and public testimony, criticising the administration for not providing details on the threat’s scope and immediacy.

“The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat,” he said in a statement.

Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, described the strikes in a statement posted on X as “a deeply consequential decision that risks pulling the United States into another broad conflict in the Middle East”.

He questioned the urgency and intelligence behind the attack, warning of repeating “mistakes of the past”, like the Iraq war.

“The American people have seen this playbook before – claims of urgency, misrepresented intelligence, and military action that pulls the United States into regime change and prolonged, costly nation-building,” he said.

Not just Democrats

While the push to curb executive military authority is largely driven by the Democratic caucus, a growing contingent of Republican lawmakers has signalled a rare break from the White House to join the effort.

Republican representative Thomas Massie, one of the most outspoken critics, described the strikes as “acts of war unauthorised by Congress”.

“I am opposed to this War. This is not America First,” he wrote on X.

In the Senate, Republican Senator Rand Paul, who also co-sponsored the war powers resolution, said his opposition to the war is based on constitutional principles.

“My oath of office is to the Constitution, so with studied care, I must oppose another Presidential war,” he said on X.

New York City residents converged on Times Square on Saturday hours after US President Donald Trump ordered a wave of deadly strikes on Iran. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the strikes “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression”.

Feb. 28 (UPI) — BERUIT — Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday that he rejects any attempt to drag his country into “adventures” that threaten its security and unity, indirectly calling on Iran-backed Hezbollah to refrain from involving Lebanon in the ongoing U.S.-led war on Iran.

Salam’s warning coincided with a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon urging U.S. citizens still in the country to leave “now, while commercial options remain available.”

In a post on X, the prime minister appealed to all Lebanese “to act with wisdom and patriotism” in light of the “dangerous developments in the region,” urging them to place Lebanon’s interests “above any other consideration.”

“I reiterate that we will not accept anyone dragging the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity,” he said, referring to Hezbollah, which previously announced that it would not remain neutral if Iran were attacked and its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were targeted.

Salam, who also held a meeting with several ministers and relief officials, urged sparing the country the “repercussions” of the war on Iran, which broke out Saturday morning with joint U.S.-Israel attacks and prompted Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel and U.S. targets across the Gulf Arab states.

When asked whether Hezbollah had reassured the Lebanese state that it would not participate in the war, he reiterated his call to spare Lebanon another war that “would bring even more suffering upon the Lebanese people.”

He was referring to the war with Israel that broke out on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah opened a front in support of Gaza, during which top Hezbollah leaders, military commanders, and Lebanese civilians were killed, and substantial damage was inflicted, with border villages in southern Lebanon completely destroyed.

Despite a cease-fire agreement reached on Nov. 27, 2024, Israel continued to operate with near-total freedom, striking suspected Hezbollah operatives and positions almost daily, causing further destruction and casualties, including among civilians.

Salam and President Joseph Aoun also conducted diplomatic contacts in an effort to keep Lebanon “neutral and spare it from the repercussions” of the ongoing war in the region.

Aoun, for his part, affirmed that sparing Lebanon from “the disasters and horrors of external conflicts” and preserving its sovereignty, security, and stability are “absolute priorities.” Later, he was informed by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa that Israel has “no intention of escalating” against Lebanon, as long as there are no hostile actions from the Lebanese side, according to a presidential statement.

Hezbollah, for its part, announced the postponement of a Saturday event during which its Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, was scheduled to speak. Instead, it released a statement condemning “the treacherous U.S.-Israeli aggression” that targeted Iran after months of threats aimed at forcing it to “surrender.”

Hezbollah also expressed “full solidarity” with Tehran and urged the countries of the region to “stand against this aggressive scheme and recognize its dangers,” warning that “its dire consequences will affect everyone without exception if left unchallenged.”

It refrained from hinting to the possibility of supporting Iran militarily.

The Prime Minister condemned Iran’s strikes targeting Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, during calls with their top officials to reaffirm Lebanon’s solidarity against such “aggressions.”

Asked whether the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and the Hamat military base, which hosts U.S. training teams, might be targeted by Iran, Salam said he could not rule it out but noted that all necessary security measures had been taken to prevent such attacks.

He also confirmed that his government was prepared for “any emergency,” having adopted “proactive measures” in anticipation of war, and assured that food, medicine, and fuel were available in quantities sufficient to meet citizens’ needs for at least two months.

He noted that Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport remains open, with the country’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines, operating as usual — except for countries in the region that have closed their airspace. He added that some airlines have canceled their flights to Lebanon.

His comments came at a time U.S. citizens were urged by the U.S. State department not to travel to Lebanon and those who are already in the country to leave “now while commercial options remain available.”

Interior Ministry official says 66 missiles were fired at Qatar, and there were 114 reports of falling shrapnel. 

Doha, Qatar – Eight people have been injured in Qatar after missile shrapnel landed in multiple locations across the country, authorities said, following a barrage of Iranian missiles that Qatar said were intercepted by its air defences.

Brigadier Abdullah Khalifa Al-Muftah, the head of public relations at Qatar’s Ministry of Interior, said in a televised address on Saturday that 66 missiles were fired at Qatar and that authorities received 114 reports of shrapnel falling nationwide. He said one of the injured people was in serious condition.

The Interior Ministry issued an emergency alert urging the public to stay away from military sites and remain indoors, warning people not to approach or handle any unidentified debris and to report any to authorities.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defence said it had “successfully intercepted” a second wave of attacks targeting several areas. It said all missiles were intercepted before reaching the country’s territory, and urged residents to remain calm and follow official instructions.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it said was the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, calling it “reckless and irresponsible”, as well as a “flagrant violation” of sovereignty and an escalation threatening regional stability.

Ibrahim Sultan Al-Hashemi, the head of public relations at the Foreign Ministry, said the attack was inconsistent with the principles of “good neighbourliness”, and that Qatar reserved the right to respond “in accordance with international law”.

The ministry also called for an immediate halt to escalation and a return to negotiations.

The missile barrage came as Iran launched strikes across the Gulf after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, an escalation that prompted air-defence interceptions over several countries. The news agency Reuters reported that Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said they intercepted Iranian missiles, while Jordan also intercepted missiles.

This is not the first Iranian attack on Qatar. In June 2025, during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, Iran launched missiles at the Al Udeid airbase, a key facility hosting US forces near Doha.

Saturday’s barrage came after the United States and Israel carried out strikes on Iran, raising fears of a wider conflict and increasing pressure on Gulf states that host US forces and critical energy infrastructure.

The developments heightened anxiety across the Gulf, where Ramadan routines were disrupted by air raid alerts, interceptions and warnings about unexploded fragments, as leaders urged restraint amid fears of a widening confrontation.

Major airlines including British Airways, Emirates and Qatar Airways have cancelled flights following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran

Travel expert Simon Calder has forecasted when flights between the UK and the Middle East might recommence. Several leading airlines, including British Airways, Emirates, and Qatar Airways, have suspended flights in the wake of joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of travellers are stuck in the region, with no immediate hope of return flights due to the unstable situation. Airports in Dubai and Doha have halted all operations after US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait were hit by Iranian retaliatory strikes.

British Airways has called off all flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until 3 March. Speaking on Radio 5 Live, Mr Calder admitted it was difficult to predict when flights would start again.

He stated: “It’s possible that flights will resume tomorrow (Sunday). Looking at what Emirates are saying in Dubai, it is possible there will not be any more flights until 3pm on Sunday afternoon – that is 11am GMT – with the implication that flights may well resume again then.

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“Etihad, just down the road in Abu Dhabi, are saying that flights will be resuming at 2pm local time, so 10am tomorrow morning GMT. We will see if that happens. Quite a lot would need to be said and done to make the airlines confident that the airspace was safe.

“At the moment though, if I had a flight booked back from Doha then, my goodness me, my absolute sympathy with anybody who is stuck in a war zone with missiles coming in, it is unbelievable and I am so, so sorry it is happening, but I would think March 5 is not a bad day to have planned your escape.”

Airports across London and Manchester have reported disruptions, with one British Airways flight from London to Doha forced to turn back to Heathrow after three hours in the air.

Leading global carriers including Delta, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Turkish Airlines have suspended services to the Middle East, alongside certain routes traversing the region.

The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) urged British nationals in affected nations to “immediately shelter in place” and steer clear of travel to Israel and Palestine. “Remain indoors in a secure location, avoid all travel and follow instructions from the local authorities,” the FCDO stated.

The department confirmed it was working tirelessly to bring home thousands of stranded Britons following the attacks. UK citizens are being encouraged to register via Register Your Presence and sign up for travel advisory emails to receive the most current updates from the Foreign Office.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for “genuine dialogue and negotiations” after the US and Israel launched massive military strikes across Iran, calling the attacks a grave threat to “international peace and security.”