By Raghed Waked, Amr Alfiky, Timour Azhari and Rula Rouhana

DUBAI, March 1 (Reuters) - As Iran fired a barrage of drones and missiles at Gulf States in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes, some in Dubai ran for cover and others froze at windows, watching the sky as if trying to make sense of something that had seemed impossible.

March 1 (Reuters) - A Palau-flagged oil tanker under U.S. sanctions was hit on Sunday off Oman's Musandam peninsula, injuring four people, the country's maritime security centre said, without specifying what hit the vessel.

The attack followed earlier drone strikes elsewhere in the Gulf country, at the commercial port of Duqm on the Arabian Sea.

The incidents mark the first time targets in or near Oman have been hit following a wave of retaliatory strikes by Tehran on Gulf states after joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that have plunged the region into a new war.

MILAN, March 1 (Reuters) - Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Sunday that he was returning to Italy from Dubai, where he had been stranded with his family after flights were suspended because of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The minister left Rome on Friday evening aboard a civilian flight to join his family, already in Dubai on holiday. He was scheduled to return to Italy on Saturday afternoon.

Maersk, the major container shipping company, said Sunday it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the narrow Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, next to Iran, for "safety" reasons.

The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran's Revolutionary Guards declared the strait closed on Saturday.

"We have decided... to pause future Trans-Suez sailings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the time being," Maersk said in an online advisory.

CAIRO, March 1 (Reuters) - Six people were killed after a missile strike on the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, the Israeli ambulance service said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Ros Russell)

Afghanistan said on Sunday that the war in neighbouring Iran would negatively impact the whole region and expressed "deep regret" over the violence flaring in multiple countries.

The Iranian flag was lowered to half-mast at the country's embassy in Kabul, an AFP journalist said, and a black cloth hung over the entrance following the killing of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 1 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday that attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran during U.S.-Iran negotiations were "unacceptable", according to state news agency Xinhua.

Wang said the "blatant killing of a sovereign leader" and the incitement of regime change were unacceptable, after Iran reported the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Saturday's barrage.

Key members of the OPEC+ oil cartel announced a greater-than-expected increase to production quotas on Sunday following US and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered retaliation by Tehran across the Middle East.

The eight-strong V8 (Voluntary Eight) group in the alliance, which includes top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia -- as well as several Gulf states bearing the brunt of Tehran's missile strikes -- said they had agreed a "production adjustment" of 206,000 barrels per day (bpd).

"This adjustment will be implemented in April," they said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, March 1 (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was "a defining moment in Iran’s history".

"What comes next is uncertain. But there is now an open path to a different Iran, one that its people may have greater freedom to shape," Kallas said on social media platform X.

"I’m in contact with partners, including those in the region that bear the brunt of Iran’s military actions, to find practical steps for de-escalation."

SEOUL, March 1 (Reuters) - North Korea's foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement that Israel's attacks on Iran and the U.S. military operation were "illegal aggression" and a violation of national sovereignty, state media Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday.

The U.S. military operation against Iran was "within the range of expectations," the spokesperson said, calling it an inevitable outcome given the "hegemonic and gangster-like" nature of the United States.