The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.

Bahrain reports damage but no injuries after Iran targets hotels, residential building

Bahrain says that Iran has targeted two hotels and a residential building in the capital Manama.

“Iranian aggression targets two hotels and a residential building in Manama, causing material damage but no loss of life,” the interior ministry posts on X.

Suspected drone infiltration alert activated in Jordan Valley settlements

Suspected drone infiltration sirens blare in several settlements in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley.

Saudi Arabia says it downed 3 ballistic missiles launched at air base

Saudi Arabia says it has intercepted three ballistic missiles launched toward an air base, as Iran pressed attacks across the Gulf.

“Three ballistic missiles launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base were intercepted and destroyed,” the Saudi defense ministry posts on X.

NYT report suggests Iran girls school next to IRGC base was accidentally struck by US

An analysis by The New York Times indicates that a February 28 strike on an elementary school in southern Iran that reportedly killed 175 people occurred at the same time as a series of US attacks on an adjacent naval base belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The analysis suggests that the school in Minab was accidentally struck by the US as it targeted Iranian military assets nearby.

The US has said it is investigating the strike, while insisting that it doesn’t target civilians intentionally.

Iranian authorities have been the only ones to provide a death count from what would be the deadly strike of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic. Their figures have not been independently confirmed.

Hegseth: ‘No expansion’ of war objectives, Trump has ‘heck of a say in who runs Iran given the ongoing operation’

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the United States isn’t expanding its military objectives in Iran, after President Donald Trump told Reuters that the United States must be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran.

The Pentagon earlier this week said the military campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury, is focused on destroying Iran’s offensive missiles, missile production and Navy, while not allowing Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.

“There’s no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we’re trying to achieve,” Hegseth says.

He adds that Trump is “having a heck of a say in who runs Iran given the ongoing operation.”

Iranian ballistic missile attacks down 90% since start of war, says US CENTCOM chief

US Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads US ​forces in the Middle East as the head of Central Command, tells reporters that Iranian ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90 percent since the first day of the US-Israel war against Iran.

Drone attacks by Iran are down 83%, he adds.

“Having said this, we remain vigilant,” Cooper stresses.

He also says that US attacks on the Iranian navy have “intensified.” According to Cooper, US forces have to date sunk more than 30 of Iran’s ships, including “an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.”

“And as we speak, it’s on fire,” Cooper says.

Additionally, Cooper says US President Donald Trump gave the military “gave us another task: to raze, or level, Iran’s ballistic missile industrial base. So we’re not just hitting what they have, we’re destroying their ability to rebuild.”

Cooper emphasizes that as the operation moves forward, the US will continue to “systemically dismantle Iran’s missile production capability for the future, and that’s absolutely in progress.”

“This is going to take some time, but our forces are well supplied… and we are absolutely ready to prosecute this mission decisively.”

He also says that “we are fighting to win. Through combined US and Israeli combat power, we’ll continue decimating Iran’s ability to project power outside its borders.”

In February, Cooper for the first time joined indirect US-Iran talks in Oman, appearing in his dress uniform as a reminder of the American buildup of military might in the region.

Hegseth says US has ‘only just begun to fight’ Iran: ‘Our munitions are full up, our will is ironclad’

Speaking at US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, Pentagon chief Hegseth says the US is solely controlling the timeline of activities in Iran and will do so “as long as it takes to ensure the United States of America achieves” its objectives.

“We set the tempo,” he says. “We set the timeline led by the commander on the ground.”

Talking about US weapons stockpiles, Hegseth says “our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad.”

“We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively,” he tells reporters. “Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation.”

On Wednesday, Hegseth said the war could go as long as eight weeks, the longest timeline given by the Trump administration thus far.

Trump says he wants to first finish the Iran war but then Cuba ‘a question of time’

US President Donald Trump says he wants to finish the war in Iran first, “but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba.”

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