US President Donald Trump has predicted the war in the Middle East could be over soon, even as Iranians staged a show of loyalty to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a sign that it was not prepared to back down any time soon.
The conflicting signals sent markets on a rollercoaster, with oil prices surging and stock markets nosediving before swinging in the other direction after Mr Trump's comments and reports of a possible ease in sanctions on Russian energy.
Mr Trump has said that the war against Iran would be a "short-term excursion", while insisting that the United States and Israel "haven't won enough" against Iran.
His comments at a gathering of congressional Republicans at his golf club in Doral, Florida cast further uncertainty over his timeline after he said in a CBS News interview that the conflict was "very complete, pretty much".
"We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some people. And I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion," Mr Trump said in a speech.
The 79-year-old repeated his boasts about the destruction of the Iranian navy, air force and missile program.
Mr Trump told CBS in an interview that the US was "very far ahead" of his initial four to five week estimated time frame.
He said during the interview that he has someone in mind to replace Iran's Supreme Leader but he did not elaborate.
Earlier, Mr Trump has said he was "not happy" with the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his slain father as Iran's supreme leader.
"Not going to tell you. I'm not happy with him," Mr Trump told the New York Post from his Doral golf club near Miami when asked about his plans for the younger Khamenei.
Mr Trump had previously dismissed Mr Khamenei as a "lightweight" and insisted again yesterday that he should have a say in appointing a new leader.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba was chosen yesterday by Iran's Assembly of Experts to succeed his late father as supreme leader.
The clerical body named the 56-year-old mid-ranking cleric, who has survived the US-Israeli air war on Iran, as successor, more than a week after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an air strike.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani said that the election of Mr Khamenei to succeed his slain father had left Israel and the United States in "despair".
An announcer on state television read a statement from the 88-member Assembly of Experts next to a picture of the new 56-year-old leader.
Mojtaba Khamenei "is appointed and introduced as the third leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the decisive vote of the respected representatives of the Assembly of Experts", the statement said.
It said the clerical body "did not hesitate for a minute" in choosing a new leader despite "the brutal aggression of the criminal America and the evil Zionist regime".
Watch: Thousands of Iranians rally in support of new supreme leader in Tehran
Mr Trump added this morning that he was "nowhere near" deciding whether to send US troops into Iran to secure the stockpile of highly enriched uranium there.
Without providing evidence, Mr Trump claimed last month that Iran was beginning to rebuild the nuclear program that he claimed had been "obliterated" by US strikes in June last year.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear arsenal, saying its enrichment of uranium, a process that produces fuel for power plants and nuclear warheads depending on its duration, is strictly for civilian use.
Read more: Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader?
700,000 displaced in Lebanon as war enters second week
Escalating hostilities have forced nearly 700,000 people to flee their homes in Lebanon, a UN agency has said, as the war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah entered a second week.
Lebanon has been pulled deep into the war in the Middle East since Hezbollah opened fire to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader, igniting Israeli attacks which have killed more than 400 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israeli strikes sent columns of smoke billowing from Beirut's southern suburbs, and over the hilltops of southern Lebanon.
Security sources in Lebanon said Israeli airstrikes hit five branches of a financial institution run by Hezbollah, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, in the southern suburbs after Israel announced it would act against it.
The Israeli military has ordered people out of the southern suburbs, a swathe of south Lebanon, and parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley region - all areas that have served as political and security strongholds of Shia Muslim Hezbollah.
"Mass displacement across Lebanon has forced nearly 700,000 people - including around 200,000 children - from their homes, adding to the tens of thousands already uprooted from previous escalations," Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF regional director, said in a statement.
"Children are being killed and injured at a horrifying rate, families are fleeing their homes in fear, and thousands of children are now sleeping in cold and overcrowded shelters," he said.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported yesterday that the dead in Lebanon included at least 83 children and 42 women.
Human Rights Watch reported this morning that the Israeli military used white phosphorus over homes in the Lebanese town of Yohmor on 3 March.
Turkey confirms second ballistic missile shot down
It comes as Turkey confirmed a second ballistic missile was shot down by NATO defences in its airspace, as the US urged all of its citizens to leave southeast Turkey over security concerns.
The Turkish Defence Ministry warned that it will take necessary steps "without hesitation", as the NATO member responded to the latest Iranian missile to enter its airspace.
In a statement, the ministry said some ammunition parts had fallen in the southeastern province of Gaziantep and that there were no casualties in the incident.
It called on all parties to adhere to Ankara's warnings and avoid escalating the violence towards a regional conflict.
The US today advised non-essential staff to leave its consulate near the southern Turkish city of Adana near a key NATO base and ordered US citizens to leave "southeast Turkey".
Israel's military again struck targets in central Iran, including internal security command centres and missile launch sites, in the first raid since the Islamic republic appointed a new supreme leader.
It said that the latest strikes were part of "deepening the damage to the core arrays and foundations of the Iranian regime".
This was the first wave of strikes Israel has announced since Tehran named Mojtaba Khamenei as the Islamic republic's supreme leader last night.
Israel struck five oil facilities in and around Tehran early yesterday, killing at least four people and sparking blazes that left the skies filled with acrid smoke.
Tehran's governor told the IRNA news agency that fuel distribution had been "temporarily interrupted" in the capital.
Authorities warned the fumes could be toxic and urged citizens to stay indoors, but many windows were blown out by the force of the blasts.
Explosions reported across several Gulf nations
Bahrain said an Iranian drone attack on the island of Sitra injured 32 people as Gulf nations reported new attacks with Tehran pressing its retaliatory strikes across the region.
All of the wounded were Bahraini citizens and there were four "serious cases", including children, the health ministry said in a statement carried by the state news agency.
The wounded included a 17-year-old girl who suffered severe head and eye injuries, and a two-month-old baby, according to the ministry.
Several explosions were also heard in the Qatari capital Doha, as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported new attacks.
Doha has been targeted by waves of Iranian drones and missiles since Iran launched a retaliation campaign across the Gulf in the wake of US and Israeli attacks against the Islamic Republic.
Qatar's defence ministry said its forces had intercepted a missile attack.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said the kingdom intercepted and destroyed two waves of drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country.
In the UAE, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said in a statement on X that air defences responded to "a missile threat".
Kuwait, which authorities said was targeted by seven missiles and five drones yesterday, announced another missile and drone attack.
The defence ministry said the country's air defences were working to intercept the attack.
Gulf countries have borne much of Iran's response after the United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran on 28 February.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned the country "will be forced to respond" against its neighbours if their territory is used to attack it.
As Iran retaliates against its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbours, the benchmark price for a barrel of crude soared beyond $100 for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago, before it fell below $100 again in later trading.
Mr Trump dismissed the price spike, a politically sensitive issue in the United States, as a "small price to pay" for removing the alleged threat of Iran's nuclear programme.
But markets in Japan and South Korea, both heavily dependent on energy imports, opened the week sharply lower.
In a sign that the United States does not expect a quick end to the war, the State Department ordered non-emergency staff to leave Saudi Arabia - days after a drone hit the US embassy.
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Govt to charter flight from Abu Dhabi this week
The Irish Government has said it intends to make another chartered flight available for people wishing to return to Ireland from the Middle East this week.
The flight will depart from Abu Dhabi.
The Cabinet was informed of the move earlier today by Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee.
Minister McEntee said via social media ago that her department was contacting citizens in the UAE who have requested assistance to return to Ireland.
It is understood the plan is for the flight to depart from Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
