Iran's supreme leader 'likely disfigured', Hegseth says as strikes hit Tehran's ability to build more weapons

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says Iran's new supreme leader is in hiding, "wounded" and "likely disfigured".

"We're shooting down and destroying what missiles they have in stock and, more importantly, ensuring they have no ability to build more," he says - key lines from the Pentagon briefing at a glance.

Earlier, the US said it would loosen sanctions on other countries buying Russian oil and petroleum loaded on vessels at sea, in a bid to curb price rises - here's what we know so far.

Easing of sanctions - even if just for a month - is welcome news for the Kremlin, writes the BBC's Steve Rosenberg.

In Tehran, footage analysed by BBC Verify shows an explosion near a pro-establishment rally, after Israel launched new strikes.

And all six crew members on board a refuelling plane that went down over Iraq have died, the US military says - adding the incident was "not due to hostile fire or friendly fire".

US easing sanctions on Russian oil 'does not help peace', Zelensky says

During a visit to France, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the US decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil "does not help peace".

Speaking at a news conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, he says it could provide Russia with about $10bn (£7.4bn) to fund its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Macron says Russia is "mistaken" if it believes the US-Israel war with Iran would "offer it a respite".

He also says that the G7 reaffirmed during a meeting on Wednesday that rising oil costs "must in no way lead us to reconsider our sanctions policy toward Russia".

Lebanon says Israel has not responded to calls for negotiations

The Lebanese president says he has not received a response to his proposal for direct negotiation with Israel amid its war with Hezbollah.

"I expressed my readiness to negotiate, but until now we have not received a response from the other side," says Joseph Aoun in a statement after meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres in Beirut.

Aoun also criticises "Israeli aggressions" and says they "must be halted".

He has previously called Hezbollah an "armed faction" that gives "no weight to Lebanon's interests or to the lives of its people".

Israel argues that Beirut has not taken meaningful steps toward disarming Hezbollah, viewing it as the responsibility of the Lebanese government under a previous ceasefire agreement.