US-Iran war live updates: Trump says war will end ‘when I feel it in my bones’; All six crew aboard US aircraft killed in crash over Iraq

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth still has no answers on whether the US military was responsible for the missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed an estimated 175 people 13 days ago.

That is despite The New York Times reporting that a preliminary investigation found the US was at fault. The White House has not denied the report.

Asked about the matter, Hegseth said an investigating officer from outside US Central Command had been appointed, and the inquiry would take as long as necessary.

“We’re not going to let reporting lead us or force our hand,” Hegseth said. “We’ll get to the truth and we’ll share it when we have it.”

He repeated that the US does not target civilians.

Next month’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula One Grands Prix are set to be cancelled over the weekend due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Multiple sources told Reuters an announcement, seen within the sport as just a matter of time, was expected by Monday at the latest, with a March 20 deadline looming for freight that has to be transported to Bahrain for logistical reasons.

Sky Sports television, which has the broadcasting rights in Britain where most of the 11 teams are based, said it understood the races would be called off by Sunday night.

US and Israeli attacks on Iran are continuing while Iranian drones and missiles have hit some Middle Eastern capitals, including Bahrain’s Manama, where most team personnel would be staying in hotels.

US President Donald Trump has given a new estimate of when the war on Iran will end: “When I feel it … feel it in my bones.”

He also acknowledged regime change in Tehran was unlikely to come about in the near term, noting how dangerous it was for Iranians to protest.

“I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons,” he said. “It’ll happen, but it probably will be maybe not immediately.”

Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News radio host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday. The tape was published Friday in the US.

An explosion in Tehran rocked the Ferdowsi Square area about midday on Friday local time, where thousands had gathered for an annual Quds Day rally in which they chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.”

Israel had issued a warning on a Farsi-language X account for people to clear the area shortly before the blast. But few Iranians would have seen it, as authorities have almost completely shut down the internet since the start of the war. Footage from the scene showed people chanting “God is greatest,” as smoke rose in the area.

The Israeli military later posted a second message in Farsi, noting the head of Iran’s judiciary was at the rally and criticising Iran for blocking many from seeing their warning.

There were no immediate reports of casualties after the midday explosion.

All six crew members aboard a US military KC-135 refuelling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are confirmed to have been killed, the US military said on Friday.

The US military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

The deaths add to the seven US service members who have already been killed as part of US operations against Iran, which began on February 28, bringing the total death toll to at least 13 service members.

“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” a statement from US Central Command said.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Pete Hegseth has told a press conference that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and “likely disfigured”.

No images have been released of Khamenei since the Israeli strike at the start of the war that killed much of his family, including his father and wife. His first comments came in a statement read out by a television presenter on Thursday. In the statement, he vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and called on neighbouring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.

“We know the new so-called not so supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday. A weak one, actually, but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement,” Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.

“Iran has plenty of cameras and plenty of voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why. His father - dead. He’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run and he lacks legitimacy.”

An Iranian ​official told Reuters on Wednesday that the newly appointed supreme leader was lightly injured but was continuing to operate, after state television described him as war-‌wounded.

Reuters with Josefine Ganko

Welcome back to our rolling coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

As we reach the two-week mark since the US and Israel launched their first strikes on Iran, the region is increasingly enveloped in violence as the death toll mounts.

Here’s what you might have missed overnight.

• In an interview with Fox News, US President Donald Trump said the war would end “when I feel it in my bones”. He also observed that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be helping Iran a “little bit”.
• All six crew members aboard the US KC-135 refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq are dead, US military officials confirmed.
• In a Pentagon press conference, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and “likely disfigured.” He also said the US is working to make sure “energy flows” through the Strait of Hormuz, and claimed there was “no clear evidence” of new mines being laid in the strait.
• An explosion in Tehran rocked the Ferdowsi Square area around midday on Friday local time, where thousands had gathered for an annual Quds Day rally in which they chanted “death to Israel” and “death to America.”
• Next month’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula One Grands Prix are set to be cancelled over the weekend due to the conflict in the Middle East.