Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is injured but "safe and sound", the son of the president said Wednesday, offering the first official explanation for why the 56-year-old has not been seen since his appointment at the weekend.

"I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections," Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.

"They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," added the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

March 11 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes targeted an apartment building in central Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, marking the second strike in the city in recent days.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and no immediate reports of casualties.

A previous strike in Beirut killed five members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Sunday.

Lebanon was drawn deeper into the regional conflict after Iran-backed Hezbollah opened fire on Israel, saying it was retaliating for the killing of Iran's supreme leader.

COLOMBO, March 11 (Reuters) - A Sri Lankan court has ordered that the bodies of 84 sailors killed in an attack on an Iranian warship off the island nation's coast last week be handed over to the embassy of Iran, local media reported on Wednesday.

The warship, IRIS Dena, was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean while it was returning from a naval exercise organised by India, amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)

Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf, handles almost all of Iran's crude exports and any attempt to seize it would mark a major escalation in the conflict, analysts say.

The US and Israel have so far treaded carefully around the island, but an Axios report over the weekend cited Trump administration officials saying capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists.

By Parisa Hafezi, Alexander Cornwell and Phil Stewart

DUBAI/TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. and Israel traded air strikes with Iran's military across the Middle East as the besieged Tehran government warned its state security forces were ready with "fingers on the trigger" to confront any revival of anti-government protests.

A record release of oil from strategic reserves by IEA nations failed to ease concerns about the impact from the Middle East war, with crude prices pushing further higher and stocks sliding on Wednesday.

The move to release oil stocks came as Iran said it was ready for a long war of attrition that would "destroy" the world economy, after firing on two commercial ships and threatening any vessels from the US or its allies.

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war:

- US strikes Kharg, Iran threatens US oil targets -

President Donald Trump said that the US military had heavily bombed military targets on Iran's Kharg Island, which handles almost all of the country's crude exports, and threatened to hit the island's oil infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's nominee for a senior State Department position withdrew from consideration on Tuesday after his controversial comments about Jewish people and diminishing white power stirred rare Republican opposition to the president's choice.

In a statement on X, Jeremy Carl, Trump's nominee for assistant secretary of state for international organizations, thanked Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their support, but said their backing was not sufficient.

Iran unleashed a wave of attacks against Israel and Gulf nations on Wednesday, including targeting a Saudi oilfield, as reports of a proposed record release of oil reserves helped calm markets and prices.

The war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran has spread across the region and beyond, causing spiking energy costs, fuel rationing, and even school closures.

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, March 11 (Reuters) - Australia on Wednesday granted humanitarian visas to two more members of the Iranian women's soccer team who decided to stay in the country due to fears for their safety if they returned home.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said a player and a support staff member accepted the government's offer, after five players from the team were granted asylum a day earlier.

"I made them the same offer that I made the five players the night before," Burke told reporters.