War in the Middle East: Latest developments

A smoke cloud erupts from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on 9 March, 2026.AFP

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Monday:

Tehran explosions

Heavy explosions rocked the Iranian capital, AFP journalists said, though it was not immediately clear what was targeted.

Qatar arrests 313

Qatari authorities have arrested more than 300 people for sharing images and "misleading information" during days of attacks by Iran, the interior ministry said.

Israel strikes Lebanon

An air strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs, with live AFPTV footage showing large plumes of smoke rising from the area, after Israel warned it would target branches of a firm linked to Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group earlier said it was engaging Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon overnight by helicopter across the Syrian border.

Stocks fall

European stock markets slid at the open on the back of surging energy prices caused by the war, after Japan's Nikkei index of stocks closed down more than five percent and South Korea's Kospi by nearly six per cent.

China on new leader

China said it opposes any targeting of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, after the Israeli military threatened to target any successor to his slain father, Ali Khamenei.

The younger Khamenei's appointment was purely an internal matter, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters.

European gas spikes

European gas prices soared as much as 30 percent. The Dutch TTF natural gas contract, considered the European benchmark, jumped to 69.50 euros ($80), before paring gains slightly.

Bahrain oil force majeure

An Iranian strike targeting Bahrain's sprawling Al Ma'ameer oil facility caused a fire at the complex along with material damage, state media said.

After waves of Iranian strikes targeted the country's energy installations, Bahrain's state-owned Bapco energy company declared force majeure -- the latest Gulf producer to activate the legal clause.

Saudi intercepts drone attack

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said it had thwarted a drone attack targeting the Shaybah oil field in the kingdom's east, near the Emirati border, while the foreign ministry condemned Iran's retaliatory strikes as "reprehensible".

Mourners carry the casket of a person killed in recent US-Israeli airstrikes to its grave during the burial at a cemetery in Tehran on 9 March, 2026.
AFP

HRW: Israel used white phosphorus

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of "unlawfully" using white phosphorus over residential parts of the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor last week.

White phosphorus, a substance that ignites on contact with oxygen, can be used as an incendiary weapon and can cause fires, horrific burns, respiratory damage, organ failure and death.

32 injured in Bahrain

Bahrain's health ministry said that an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra overnight wounded 32 civilians, all of them Bahraini citizens.

Israel, Iran trade fire

Iran fired its first missiles towards Israel after the appointment of the new supreme leader, state broadcaster IRIB said, with Israeli medics reporting one woman wounded.

The Israeli military said it launched a new wave of strikes targeting "regime infrastructure", including internal security command centres and missile launch sites, in central Iran.

New Gulf attacks

Several explosions were heard in the Qatari capital Doha, AFP journalists said, as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported new attacks.

Khamenei son named successor

Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was selected by the country's Assembly of Experts to succeed his father.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards quickly pledged allegiance to the new supreme leader, while top security official Ali Larijani called Khamenei's election "completely legal".

Earlier, Trump had told ABC News that if the next leader "doesn't get approval from us he's not going to last long".

Crude prices soar above $100

Both crude benchmark prices, the WTI and Brent, surged more than 30 percent, after already soaring above $100 a barrel amid fears of prolonged supply disruptions due to the war.

Trump dismissed the spike on social media, saying it is "a very small price to pay" to remove Iran's nuclear threat.