The United Nations Refugee Agency warns the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has forced 3.2 million people to flee their homes in less than two weeks, creating a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale. Most of those displaced are evacuating Tehran and other urban areas to seek safety in northern Iran and rural areas. This is Mahshid, whose home in Tehran was destroyed in airstrikes on Tuesday.

Mahshid: “They destroyed that house and this one and ours here. Now we’re staying with relatives. Where are we supposed to go? We have nowhere. I had just replaced all my belongings, and it’s all ruined. Now we are collecting the scraps left behind on the floors because we were all siblings.”

Earlier today, huge explosions rocked central Tehran not far from where a massive “al-Quds Day” demonstration in support of Palestinians was underway. Iranian media report a woman attending the rally was killed by shrapnel from the U.S.-Israeli coalition airstrike.

On Thursday, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement he’d ordered the military to continue blocking shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and called on other Middle East nations to close U.S. military bases used to attack Iran. They were Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public comments since he was chosen to replace his father, Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on February 28 along with other members of the family, including Mojtaba’s son, brother-in-law and sister.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first press briefing since attacking Iran, where he vowed to continue the bombardment of Iran and Lebanon and threatened to kill Iran’s new supreme leader.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Even now it can be said with certainty: This is no longer the same Iran, this is no longer the same Middle East, and this is also not the same Israel. We are not waiting. We are initiating. We are attacking. And we are doing so with a force the like of which has not been seen before.”

The Pentagon says at least four service members are dead after a refueling aircraft supporting the U.S. bombing of Iran crashed in western Iraq on Thursday. The Pentagon has not revealed the fate of two other crew members, saying that “rescue efforts continue.”

This comes as a coalition of 250 prominent organizations sent a joint letter to Congress urging lawmakers to vote against any additional funding for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The groups include the ACLU, Public Citizen, Greenpeace, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Service Employees International Union. They write, “The $50 billion that the administration reportedly seeks for a new Pentagon supplemental would be enough to restore food assistance for four million Americans that was taken away in the tax and budget reconciliation bill, establish universal pre-K education, and pay for the annual construction of more than 100,000 units of housing, among other possible priorities.”

In Oman, two foreign nationals were killed and several others injured after Iranian drones struck Oman’s northern Sohar province. Of 14 civilians killed so far in Gulf nations, all but one were immigrants — predominantly South Asian nationals who work low-wage jobs. One Pakistani worker told Middle East Eye that despite the risks, “If I don’t work, I go hungry.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia says it shot down 56 Iranian drones since early Friday, including one targeting the high-security diplomatic area of Riyadh. And NATO says its air defenses in the eastern Mediterranean shot down a third ballistic missile that was fired from Iran toward Turkey.

Iran’s attacks continue to roil energy markets, with the price of oil surging to nearly $100 a barrel — even after the International Energy Agency announced a record release of oil from strategic reserves. On Thursday, President Trump suggested skyrocketing fuel costs are a good thing. He wrote on his social media platform, “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

Israel’s military has bombed central Beirut, killing at least 12 people and sending black smoke billowing into the sky over Lebanon’s capital. The Israeli strikes on Thursday targeted the Bachoura neighborhood close to downtown Beirut. Separate Israeli attacks ripped through Beirut’s southern suburbs and large swaths of southern Lebanon. Earlier today, an Israeli strike targeted a bridge over the Litani River, a major crossing point between northern and southern Lebanon. Among the latest dead are nine people, including five children, killed by Israeli bombs in the town of Arki. Israel’s military said it was responding to rockets and drones fired at Israel from Hezbollah. On Thursday, Israeli officials said they were expanding a forced evacuation order for southern Lebanon, almost doubling the size of the zone. More than 800,000 people have been displaced by Israeli attacks across Lebanon, with 687 people killed in less than two weeks, including 98 children. After headlines, we’ll go to Lebanon for the latest.

Israel’s military has dropped all charges against five soldiers who were accused of assaulting and gang-raping a Palestinian man detained at the Sde Teiman prison in 2024. The prison has become notorious for the gruesome torture of Palestinians. The man was hospitalized with broken ribs, a punctured lung, rectal damage and other injuries. The former top lawyer of the Israeli military was arrested last year for her alleged role in the leak of surveillance video that showed the Israeli soldiers raping the Palestinian detainee, who was returned to Gaza after his release from Israeli prison. At the time, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the soldiers should be treated like “heroes, not villains.”

Meanwhile, Spain has permanently removed its ambassador to Israel as the Spanish government intensifies its opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said last week Spain would refuse to allow the U.S. to use naval and air bases in southern Spain to strike Iran. 

In related news, Iceland and the Netherlands have joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The case was first brought in December 2023.

In Greece, thousands of demonstrators marched through central Athens Thursday toward the U.S. Embassy to protest the war on Iran and to demand the closure of NATO bases in Greece.

Sofia Theotoka: “We consider the stance of the Greek government to be despicable, because it not only puts us in danger by hosting American bases all over the country, but also has very strong ties with the state of Israel that is conducting a genocide with the United States. For us, the government should have already issued a public statement that would clarify that they are not getting involved in this war. On the contrary, we see them making moves, either with the frigates in the Red Sea or the F-16s in Cyprus. That shows our country wants to be part of the war.”

The Trump administration has granted a 30-day waiver for countries to buy U.S.-sanctioned Russian oil currently stranded at sea. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move was needed to stabilize energy markets that have been roiled by the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran. 

The waiver came as Ukrainian drones on Thursday struck a pipeline terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar region, setting fuel tanks on fire at one of the largest oil facilities in southern Russia. Meanwhile, officials in Kyiv say fighting in the Middle East is rapidly consuming expensive U.S. air defense munitions that Ukraine desperately needs to fend off Russian missiles and drones.

In Geneva, investigators presented evidence to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council Thursday on Russia's deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Some 20,000 children have been abducted and sent to Russia and Belarus, where they are sometimes subjected to military training and even forced to fight against Ukraine. This is Erik Møse, the chair of the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.

Erik Møse: “Families remained unaware of the fate of the children for prolonged periods of time. This has led to lengthy separation, distress and suffering. These acts have been widespread and systematic, committed as a matter of policy, and amount to enforced disappearance as a crime against humanity.”

In Michigan, an attacker armed with a rifle rammed his pickup truck into the Temple Israel synagogue near Detroit on Thursday, exchanging fire with security guards who shot him dead. One guard was knocked unconscious by the assault; no one else was injured. At the time, 140 students were in the synagogue’s early childhood learning center. The Detroit News reports the attacker was a Dearborn Heights man originally from Lebanon, whose two brothers, niece and nephew were killed days earlier in an Israeli military strike on their home in Lebanon. 

In Virginia, the FBI says it’s investigating Thursday’s shooting at Old Dominion University as an act of terrorism. Federal agents say the former Virginia Army National Guard member Mohamed Bailor Jalloh opened fire on a classroom of students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, killing one person and injuring two others before the students subdued and killed him. Jalloh pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group and served seven years in prison. He was on supervised release at the time of Thursday’s shooting. 

Today marks one year since Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia was arrested and detained by ICE. Kordia, who was born in East Jerusalem, was arrested during the 2024 Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. Those charges were dropped, but Kordia was later detained at a routine immigration check-in in New Jersey. Rights groups and supporters have continued demanding Leqaa’s release, including Mahmoud Khalil, who wrote an op-ed for The Guardian titled “To my Palestinian sister in ICE detention — I will carry you until you are free.”

This week also marked one year since Khalil was arrested by federal agents at his residence. He was released from an ICE jail in Louisiana last June. To mark the anniversary, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted Mahmoud Khalil, his wife Dr. Noor Abdalla and their baby Deen at Gracie Mansion for iftar, the meal at sunset to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Last year, Khalil was returning home after sharing an iftar with his wife Noor, when he was taken by federal agents and then flown to Louisiana, where he was detained for over 100 days.

In Colorado, nearly 4,000 meatpacking workers are set to begin a strike on Monday to protest unfair and dangerous labor conditions at JBS USA, the world’s largest meat producer. This would mark the first major labor strike in the meatpacking industry in decades. Unionized workers at the slaughterhouse and beef processing plant in the city of Greeley approved the strike after their employer refused to agree to a fair contract following months of negotiations. The meatpacking workers, many of whom are immigrants, have described low wages, being forced to pay for personal protective gear out of pocket, and say they face discrimination over their immigration status. There’s currently an ongoing lawsuit against JBS alleging discrimination against Haitian workers. Last year, JBS agreed to a $4 million settlement over child labor violations, but without admitting wrongdoing.