Iran's first Oscar-nominated documentary will compete in Hollywood at a time of incredible tumult at home, days after US-Israeli strikes killed the country's long-time supreme leader.

As the Islamist regime scrabbles to shore itself up in the wake of the death of the hardline Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "Cutting Through Rocks" offers a different vision of leadership in a country dominated by male clerics for half a century.

"We have a character in our film that really uses the power that she has to empower others," co-director Mohammadreza Eyni told AFP.

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - Iran is detaining at least six U.S. citizens or permanent residents, according to detainee advocates, raising fears they and thousands of Americans believed trapped in the country could be used as bargaining chips in the escalating war with the U.S. and Israel.

The detainees are among what some experts estimate are possibly thousands of dual U.S.-Iranian nationals and green-card holders who have remained in Iran despite repeated U.S. warnings not to travel there because of the threat of being arrested.

March 2 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said late on Monday it has begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran.

The strikes came after it issued an evacuation warning for residents in Tehran, particularly those residing near state broadcaster IRIB's headquarters.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Chris Reese)

By Patricia Zengerle, Nolan D. McCaskill and David Morgan

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Republicans insisted on Monday that the attack on Iran was fully within his authority as commander in chief, while Democrats said the administration has not made its case and planned a war powers vote this week.

SYDNEY, March 3 (Reuters) - Australia said on Tuesday that all of its defence personnel stationed at the Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai were safe following a drone attack at the site over the weekend.

"All the Australians who are there are safe and accounted for. There were no injuries to Australians," Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters in Canberra.

"We've got more than 100 personnel, actually, across the Middle East. Most of them are in the UAE where we've had an operational headquarters at Al Minhad for many, many years now."

US forces have shot down hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles in recent days, raising questions about how long American air defense interceptor stocks will last in a war that could continue for weeks or more.

Iran responded to the massive US-Israeli air campaign launched over the weekend with barrages of hundreds of missiles and drones against countries in the Middle East that host American forces and bases.

Energy prices surged Monday as the war in the Middle East led to outages of key energy production operations and a critical waterway was essentially emptied of traffic.

European natural gas prices finished the day up more than 39 percent after surging more than 50 percent earlier in the day.

Brent oil futures rose to above $82 dollars a barrel, a gain of more than 13 percent early in the session. The benchmark finished up 7.3 percent at $77.74 a barrel, up around $15 compared with the start of 2026.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. forces "would not deliberately target a school" after Iranian state media reported over 160 were killed in a strike on a girls' school on the first day of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The reported strike took place on a girls' elementary school in the town of Minab in southern Iran on Saturday, marking the deadliest incident in the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran.

By Jana Winter

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - Iran and its proxies could target the U.S. with attacks in response to the Saturday killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by Israeli and U.S. strikes, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment reviewed by Reuters.

The February 28 threat assessment produced by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security said Iran and its proxies "probably" pose a threat of targeted attacks on the United States, although a large-scale physical attack was unlikely.

With few captains willing to brave the Strait of Hormuz as war rages around the Gulf, companies will have to do business without one of the world's most vital shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas.

- What is the strait's importance to world markets? -

The strait is especially key to the world energy markets, with around 20 percent of global seaborne oil passing through.