The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK government announced Saturday.

Britain's defence ministry said the US had begun using the military sites for "specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region".

Later Saturday, US President Donald Trump rejected what he said were British plans to possibly send two aircraft carriers to the region -- hours after having mocked Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his initial reluctance to get involved in the conflict.

With further negotiations pencilled in with the US and perhaps assuming that any assassination attempt would take place at night, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was at his complex in Tehran last Saturday morning. It would be his last.

An air strike obliterated the compound in Tehran where a gathering of key decision-makers was taking place, killing Khamenei, his wife and other top officials.

March 7 (Reuters) - Ukrainian manufacturers of cheap interceptor drones designed to knock out enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) say they have the capacity to export in large volumes, amid enquiries from the United States and Middle East prompted by the Iran war.

Hundreds of drones based on Iran's Shahed model and now made in Russia fill Ukraine's skies during frequent attacks, and many are downed by air defences including Western missiles, fighter jets, truck-mounted guns and interceptor drones.

ANKARA, March 7 (Reuters) - Turkey is considering the deployment of F-16 aircraft to Cyprus, a Turkish defence ministry source said on Saturday.

The person said such a move was one of the steps being considered amid the phased planning underway to ensure the security of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the island, as conflict spreads in the region.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

By Maya Gebeily and Alexander Cornwell

BEIRUT/TEL AVIV, March 7 (Reuters) - Israel warned Lebanon of a "very heavy price" if it did not rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday, as it pounded the group's strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah fired at Israel, which responded with a new military campaign that has forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY, March 7 (Reuters) - Pope Leo on Saturday named a senior Church diplomat who represented the Vatican in the Philippines during former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs as the Vatican's U.S. ambassador and envoy to the Trump administration.

Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, served for two years in Manila before becoming the Vatican's U.N. ambassador in 2020.

TEL AVIV, March 7 (Reuters) - Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah on Saturday warned residents of a northern Israeli city near the border with Lebanon to evacuate and head south.

Hezbollah did not specify what action, if any, it planned to take against the city, which lies only a few kilometres from the border.

"Warning. All residents of Kiryat Shmona are asked to evacuate immediately. Head south," it said in a statement.

March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran would be "hit very hard" on Saturday and that he was considering widening the areas and groups of people being, targeted, without providing details.

"Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran's bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.

The frigate was sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday just off Sri Lanka's southern coast.

Sri Lanka sent its navy to rescue survivors and recover 84 bodies.

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war:

- Iran unleashes barrage -

Gulf states as well as Israel reported missile and drone attacks from Iran early Sunday.

The Kuwaiti military said it was intercepting "hostile missile and drone attacks", several hours after reporting fuel tanks at the nation's international airport were targeted by Iranian drones.

Kuwait's official news agency said a fire at the airport had been brought under control.

UAE authorities said air defences were responding to a missile and drone attack.