West Asia conflict: Azerbaijan vows retaliation after Iranian missile attack injures 4; tankers hit in Gulf

Azerbaijan was preparing unspecified retaliatory measures on Thursday after it said four Iranian drones had crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave, raising concerns about further spillover from the conflict in the Middle East.

"We will not tolerate this unprovoked act of terror and aggression against Azerbaijan. Our Armed Forces have been instructed to prepare and implement appropriate retaliatory measures," President Ilham Aliyev told a meeting of his Security Council. "We are ready to demonstrate our strength against any hostile force - and they should not forget this in Iran," he said.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi denied that Tehran had targeted Nakhchivan. "We do not attack our neighbouring countries," he told Azerbaijani outlet AnewZ.

Azerbaijani authorities said one drone had fallen on the terminal building of Nakhchivan International Airport, which is about 10 km (6 miles) across the border from Iran, and another drone landed close to a school building in a nearby village. One was downed by the Azerbaijani army and another hit civilian infrastructure.

The four injured were taken to hospital, where they are in a stable condition, the Health Ministry in the landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan bordering Armenia, Iran and Turkey told Reuters. Video footage showed black smoke rising near the airport and damage to the skylight inside the terminal building. Authorities said they were investigating the types of drones used.

Tankers attacked in Gulf
More tankers came under attack in Gulf waters on Thursday, threatening to spread the crisis to more oil producers in the region.

A Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker was targeted by an Iranian remote-controlled boat laden with explosives while anchored near Iraq's Khor al Zubair port, according to initial assessments. A second tanker at anchor off Kuwait was taking on water and spilling oil after a large explosion on its port side.

Nine vessels have come under attack since the conflict broke out between the U.S., Israel and Iran on Saturday. Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday and also sent drones into Azerbaijan, injuring four people.

The escalation comes after a motion to halt the US attacks was blocked in Washington and as the son of Iran's slain supreme leader emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him, suggesting Tehran was not about to buckle under the pressure.

Around 200 ships, including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers as well as cargo ships, remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers, according to Reuters estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform. Hundreds of other vessels remained outside the Strait of Hormuz unable to reach ports, shipping data showed. The waterway is a key artery for around a fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply.

Senior Hamas leader killed
Lebanese state media on Thursday said an Israeli strike had killed a senior Hamas official on Thursday, the first reported targeted killing of a member of the Palestinian militant group since US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered regional war. Wassim Atallah al-Ali and his wife were killed when an "enemy drone targeted their home" in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Additionally, the Tehran-backed Iraqi group Kataeb Hezbollah said on Thursday that one of its commanders was killed in a strike in southern Iraq the previous day. Ahmad al-Hamidawi, the secretary-general of the armed faction, mourned in a statement the loss of a "great commander", Ali Hussein al-Freiji, who had joined the group more than two decades ago.

The group's Jurf al-Nasr base was the first Iraqi target of strikes blamed on Israel and the US, which later expanded to other areas. Since the start of the war, the strikes have killed 15 fighters, mostly from Kataeb Hezbollah. One source described the attack as a "Zionist-US strike".

Israel's military said in a statement it had "just begun a large-scale wave of strikes against the infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran". Iranian news agency Tasnim and local media reported several explosions had been heard in Tehran on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that it hit a US oil tanker with a missile Thursday, "in the north of the Persian Gulf" and set it on fire, as the conflict between the two countries continues.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abas Araghchi responded to the attack on its warship near the Sri Lankan coast, accusing the United States of committing an atrocity. "Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set", he posted on X. A second Iranian warship was heading towards Sri Lanka's territorial waters on Thursday, a minister told parliament.

Since the conflict broke out on February 28, 1,045 fatalities have been reported in Iran, including the 175 school girls and staff killed in a missile strike on a primary school in Minab on the first day of the war. However, it is unclear if the report by the non-profit humanitarian group Iranian Red Crescent Society included military casualties in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Meanwhile, Israel reported 10 civilian fatalities, including 9 killed in the missile strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on Sunday. The Israel Defence Forces has not reported any military casualties.

Lebanon reported 77 fatalities in the Israeli strikes according to the nation's health ministry. In Syria, four people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Saturday. Additionally, Bahrain and Oman reported 1 fatality each, while the UAE and Kuwait reported 3 each. However, six US service members were killed in a strike on a facility in Kuwait.

Blasts in Doha
Another round of explosions was heard over the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday, AFP journalists reported, describing a column of black smoke rising on the horizon. Qatar's defence ministry said its military was working to intercept an incoming missile attack.

Iran hits Iraqi Kurds
Iran said Thursday it had targeted the headquarters of Kurdish forces in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles, following strikes on Kurdish regions in both Iran and Iraq. The strikes killed a member from an exiled Iranian Kurdish group, according to a representative.

Spain sends Cyprus protection
Spain will send its most advanced frigate to protect Cyprus after a drone strike on a British base on the Mediterranean island sucked it into the Middle East war, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

The "Cristobal Colon" will join French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" and Greek navy ships to "offer protection and aerial defence" and "support any evacuation of civilians", the ministry said in a statement.

Australia deploys 'military assets'
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that "military assets" had been deployed to the Middle East as a contingency plan. While Albanese did not elaborate, local outlet SBS News reported they were planes.

Strike hits Hezbollah stronghold
An air strike hit the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut early Thursday, after an Israeli warning to residents. Israeli strikes along Beirut's airport highway killed three people, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Oil spill near Kuwait
A "large explosion" hit a tanker in the waters off Kuwait, causing an oil spill, British maritime security agency UKMTO said.

"The Master of a tanker at anchor, reports witnessing and hearing a large explosion on the port side then seeing a small craft leave the vicinity" off the Gulf state's Mubarak Al-Kabeer area, the agency posted on X.

Qatar evacuations near US embassy
Qatar has begun evacuating residents of its capital living near the US embassy as a precautionary measure, the interior ministry said, after Iranian strikes.

UK minister due in Cyprus
Britain's Defence Minister John Healey is due in Cyprus later Thursday, after a drone strike on a UK air base on the Mediterranean island, a defence source tells AFP.

Italian air-defence aid to Gulf
Italy will send air defence assistance to Gulf countries hit by Iranian strikes in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Thursday.

(With AFP, Reuters inputs.)