<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Unrelenting Iranian attacks on shipping traffic and energy infrastructure have pushed oil above $100 a barrel, as American and Israeli strikes pounded the Islamic Republic with no sign of an end to the war in sight.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran hit a container ship off the coast of Dubai, caused a blaze near Bahrain's international airport, targeted a major Saudi oil field with a drone and forced Iraq to halt operations at all of its oil terminals after attacking its port of Basra on the Persian Gulf.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran flouted a UN Security Council resolution from the previous day demanding that it halt strikes on its Gulf neighbours with new attacks also reported in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-iran-school-missiles-tomahawk-explosion-usa-responsibility/2f613d33-f9fe-40e9-8cb8-1e9e88564e73"><strong><span>Trump denies knowledge of report blaming US for school bombing</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sirens wailed before dawn in Jerusalem as Israel intercepted incoming Iranian missiles, and loud booms were heard later in the day in another attack on the city.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel launched a "wide-scale wave of strikes" on Tehran and in Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting Iran-linked Hezbollah militants, 11 people were killed in two early morning strikes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Since the United States and Israel started the war with a February 28 attack on Iran, Tehran has focused on inflicting enough global economic pain to pressure them to halt their attacks.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-attack-iran-unrelenting-attacks-on-middle-east-shipping-and-energy-infrastructure-send-oil-prices-soaring/5a496b26-82ae-4d49-bf8d-a67ec1ff1ce0" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>US President Donald Trump suggested that was not imminent, however, promising to "finish the job" even though he claimed Iran is "virtually destroyed".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We don't want to leave early do we? We've got to finish the job," he said at an event on Wednesday in Kentucky.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei hasn't yet made a statement or been seen since being chosen to succeed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the opening day of the conflict. But Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested online on Thursday that for the war to end, the world would need to recognise Iran's "legitimate rights", pay reparations and offer guarantees against future attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/finance/oil-could-surge-past-us150-dollars-a-barrel-commonwealth-bank-of-australia/443f4abe-4131-4cc9-884f-160821d44f35"><strong><span>Oil price could fly past unheard-of milestone, major bank warns</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In addition to attacking energy infrastructure around the region, Iran has a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>With traffic in the strait effectively stopped, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose another 9 per cent to more than $100 a barrel, up some 38 per cent over what it cost when the war started.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Iran fires at Gulf Arab countries and hits ship in Persian Gulf</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding a halt to Iran's "egregious attacks" on its Gulf neighbours, but Tehran showed no signs of changing its strategy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the day began on Thursday, a container ship in the Persian Gulf was hit with a projectile off the coast of Dubai, sparking a small fire, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre. It said the crew of the vessel were safe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Bahrain, an Iranian attack sparked a major fire on Muharraq Island, home to the country's international airport. Sirens sounded again later in the morning with more incoming Iranian fire.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-attack-iran-live-updates-march-12-donald-trump-latest-world-news-headline/79946bbf-76ad-4c59-bebb-6a2a092ad4e9"><strong><span>Wong tells Aussie expats in the Middle East to get out now</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kuwait's Defence Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building, wounding two people. The UAE said it had activated air defences twice to protect Dubai from attacks, and firefighters extinguished a blaze at a tower in Dubai Creek Harbour after a drone hit.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Saudi Arabia said it shot down a drone targeting the diplomatic quarter of the capital, Riyadh, and also reported downing drones in the kingdom's east, including at least one trying to target its Shaybah oil field.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Following an attack on Iraq's Basra port on Wednesday that killed at least one person, officials said on Thursday that operations were halted at all the country's oil terminals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, said the attack targeted a vessel in a ship-to-ship transfer area of the Persian Gulf port.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the UAE, CitiBank said it would close all its branches except one due to a threat by Iran, not yet realised, to target financial institutions in the region. Other financial institutions have reportedly urged their staff to work from home for the time being.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/us-israel-attack-iran-conflict-escalates-saudi-arabia-oil-tankers-targeted-trump-sidesteps-blame-for-strike-on-iran-school/b321addd-c4de-4272-b8e5-947a6732d4eb"><strong><span>US-Ied air assault on Iran nears 13th day with no end in sight</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Explosions heard Jerusalem while Lebanon and Tehran are hit</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In addition to the attacks on Jerusalem, in which no casualties were immediately reported, missile launches from Iran and Hezbollah also sent Israelis to shelters in multiple other areas, including Tel Aviv and the northern border with Lebanon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An Israeli strike hit a car on Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Eight people were killed and 31 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The Israeli military press office told The Associated Press it was "not aware" of a strike at that location.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometres south of Beirut, another three people were killed and a child was wounded in another early Israeli attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In Tehran, security force checkpoints came under attack for the first time on Wednesday night, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. At least 10 people were killed in the suspected drone assaults.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel and the US military's Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment over whether they were behind the attacks.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Casualties continue to climb as conflict continues</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Wednesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The UN refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iranian authorities say more than 1300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The US has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.</span></div></div>