Iranian government agency says war death toll has reached at least 1,045 people
The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that authorities postponed the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The death toll in Iran from the ongoing war with the United States and Israel has reached at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said on Wednesday.
Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs offered the toll, saying it represented the number of bodies so far identified and prepared for burial.
Meanwhile, the United States and Israel hit Tehran and other cities in multiple airstrikes, the fifth day of the war with Iran.
Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces as the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel and across the region.
Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts, and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the centre of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted.
The Israeli military said one of its F-35 stealth fighter jets shot down a piloted Iranian Air Force YAK-130 fighter over Tehran on Wednesday.
It also said Israeli air defences were activated to intercept Iranian missiles fired at targets around the country, and explosions were heard around Jerusalem.
The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that authorities postponed the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the conflict, according to Iranian state television.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said Nato defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace.
And an Iranian naval frigate sank off the coast of Sri Lanka. Authorities there rescued 32 people, though others died, Sri Lankan officials said.
It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship, which Sri Lankan authorities identified as the Iris Dena, and is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes and can carry a helicopter.
The US military said earlier it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and that its goal was sinking “the entire navy”.
With Iran’s stranglehold on tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, Brent crude prices hit 84 dollars a barrel, up more than 15% since the start of the conflict and at its highest price since July 2024.
Global stock markets have been hammered over worries that the spike in oil prices may grind down the world economy and sap corporate profits.
Iran has also attacked regional infrastructure. Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday its Ras Tanura oil refinery, one of the world’s largest, was again targeted after an unsuccessful drone attack on it earlier in the week.
The kingdom’s oil ministry said the latest attack did not cause any damage and supplies were not affected.
The American Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US Consulate in the United Arab Emirates came under drone attacks on Tuesday, and the US State Department said it had authorised non-emergency government personnel to evacuate the kingdom.
US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said Iran has launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and 2,000 drones so far.
“We’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets, with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defences and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones,” Mr Cooper said in a prerecorded message shared online on Wednesday.
