LIVE | At least 20,000 seafarers and 15,000 passengers are stranded in the Gulf because of the war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the Middle East war had taken tensions in the region to a "terrifying level" that could spread further.

"With the air strikes against our neighbour Iran, regional tensions have reached a terrifying level," Erdogan said in a televised speech. "The missiles and kamikaze drones directed by Iran against other countries in the region raise fears of the conflict spreading to a much wider area."

Around 20,000 sailors and 15,000 cruise passengers are stranded in the Gulf because of the war in the Middle East and Iran's block of the Strait of Hormuz, the secretary general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Domínguez, told AFP.

The IMO, the U.N. organization in charge of maritime safety, is "ready to collaborate with all interested parties to help ensure the safety and well-being of seafarers," said Domínguez, who was born in Panama.

Britain is sending four additional Typhoon jets to Qatar amid the expanding war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Thursday.

The fighter planes will join an existing U.K. squadron in the Gulf state, a key energy provider, "to strengthen our defensive operations in Qatar and across the region," Starmer said at a news conference.

The Lebanese government said on Thursday it would ban any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a main backer of the militant group Hezbollah, and seek to deport its members from Lebanon.

Information Minister Paul Morcos said the country's cabinet had decided to "prevent any activity" that members of the Iran Guards "may carry out from Lebanese territory... and to have them detained by the competent judiciary to deport them."

He added that Iranians would now require a visa to enter Lebanon.

At least 13 people have been killed in Gulf countries since the war began, and another 10 in Israel. The Iranian military said Thursday it had attacked a U.S. base in Kuwait with drones.

An oil tanker off Kuwait suffered a "major explosion"that caused an oil spill, British maritime safety agency UKMTO reported.

According to Iranian state television, Iran attacked an American oil tanker in the Gulf with a missile, an incident that at this time could not be confirmed.

Iran's armed forces on Thursday denied launching a drone strike against Azerbaijan after Baku said at least two Iranian drones hit the country, injuring two people.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran denies that its armed forces have launched a drone toward the Republic of Azerbaijan," the armed forces general staff said in a statement. 

According to the statement, Israel would be the real aggressor: "Such actions of the Zionist regime, aimed at disrupting relations between Muslim countries in various ways, are unprecedented."

For its part, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemned "these drone attacks launched from the Islamic Republic of Iran," and announced that it had summoned the Iranian ambassador to express its protest against this incident, which "increases tensions in the region."

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry added shortly thereafter that the incident "will not go unanswered."

The internet outage in Iran ordered by the Ayatollahs' Regime is now in its fifth day, "and connectivity remains at around 1% of its usual level," indicated the specialized cybersecurity website NetBlocks.

A situation that prevents the population from communicating with the outside world or searching for reliable sources of information.

The French government authorized the presence of U.S. aircraft at its bases in the Middle East, the scene of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, the French General Staff told AFP on Thursday.

"In the framework of our relations with the United States, the temporary presence of their aircraft at our bases" in the region has been authorized, said a spokeswoman for the General Staff, confirming information from the LCI channel. "These aircraft contribute to the protection of our partners in the Gulf," she said.

U.K. Defense Minister John Healey arrived Thursday in Cyprus to address "reinforcement" in security in the face of unrest on the island, four days after a drone struck a local British base, in the midst of conflict in the Middle East.

"The long-standing friendship between the U.K. and Cyprus remains strong in the face of Iranian threats," the minister said in a message posted on X, accompanied by a photo showing him with his Cypriot counterpart, Vasilis Palmas.


Healey added that he discussed with the Cypriot minister the "reinforcement of air defenses by the United Kingdom to ensure our common security."

Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehey helped Capitol Police evict an anti-war activist who refused to leave a hearing on the military.


The congressman himself explained on his X account afterwards:

"Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protestor from the Armed Services hearing. He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation.

This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence."

Despite the Spanish prime minister's "no to war" to justify his refusal to cede the Rota to Moron bases to U.S. fighters, Spain will send its most advanced frigate to protect Cyprus after a drone attack on a British base on the Mediterranean island dragged it into the Middle East war, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The Christopher Columbus will join the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and Greek Navy ships to "provide protection and air defense" and "support any evacuation of civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

Asian markets relaxed after Wall Street rose in New York on Wednesday, which brushed asideinflationary fearsrelated to the Middle East conflict and welcomed better-than-expected U.S. economic data.

Seoul's Kospi indexled gains after closing with a 9.63% gain, a spectacular recovery after a historic 12% plunge the day before. Japan's Nikkeigauge also advanced and closed up 1.9%, after losing 3.61% on Wednesday.

TheChinese stock markets rose moderately during the session (Hong Kong by 0.15% and Shanghai by 0.51%), after announcing the growth target for this year - between 4.5% and 5% - the most modest in three decades.

However, concerns over the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on energy facilities of its neighbors caused the price of crude oil to continue to rise on Thursday in Asian trading.

About 06:30 GMT (12:30 AM Florida), the price of a barrel of Brentexpectedly climbed 3.22% to $84.09. The barrel of North American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was still up 3.78%, to $77.45.

The beginning of the sixth day of conflict was again starred by sirens warning of new attacks. Doha and Bahrainsuffered heavy explosions, as did Tehran, target of Israeli aviation and Jerusalem, destination of a new wave of Iranian drones and missiles.

A drone launched from Iranian territory hit a building at an airport in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, local media said Thursday.

Two drones crossed from Iran, and one of them exploded at Nakhichevan airport, an Azerbaijani enclave located between Armenia, Turkey and Iran, media outlet Report said, without giving further details.

The Communist government in Beijing has asked its major refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline because the war poses the risk of a supply shortage, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Despite reluctance, more and more countries are deploying military forces in the Middle East. Although, so far, none has joined the attacks by Israel and the US, the arrival of aircraft carriers, planes or anti-aircraft material to collaborate in the protection of the Gulf countries and the Western troops and civilians in the region.

For Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the dispatch of "air defense (...) because there are tens of thousands of Italians in that area and about 2.000 soldiers that we have to protect."

For its part, Australia deployed two aircraft as part of its contingency plan.