Iran-US Conflict News: An Iranian cleric on Thursday called for “shedding” of blood from the Israelis and US President Donald Trump as the conflict between Israel, the United States and Iran entered its sixth day on March 5, with tensions in the Persian Gulf continuing.
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli called for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood,” the AP reported, citing his statement.
“We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity and this alliance,” he said. “The Imam of the time says: Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,” the ayatollah added, according to the AP.
Iran-US conflict
On Thursday, Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Israeli and US bases and threatened that the United States would “bitterly regret” the torpedoing of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, while Israel said it had launched a “large-scale” attack on Tehran, according to an AP report.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US Navy of committing “atrocity at sea” for the alleged sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, which killed at least 87 Iranian sailors. “Mark my words: The US will bitterly regret (the precedent) it has set,” he said on social media.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon March 5, 2026. REUTERS/Claudia Greco(REUTERS)
The new wave of Iranian attacks comes days after the US and Israel launched a joint attack on the Islamic Republic on February 28, 2026. Hours later on the same day, Iran launched retaliatory attacks – with explosions reported in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait and other key Middle Eastern centers – which are also home to US military bases.
The former Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei, was reportedly killed in the attacks.
Israel’s military said it struck 80 Hezbollah-linked targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours and that a wave of strikes on Iran hit long-range ballistic missile launchers and other targets, the AP report said.
More than 1,000 killed, the report says
To date, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, AP said, citing officials from those countries.
The conflict also abruptly disrupted world oil and gas supplies, snarled international shipping and stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, a drone crashed on Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave bordering northern Iran and separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school, injuring two civilians, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said.
