The UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that Iranian authorities had reported projectile impact at the country's only operational nuclear power plant that caused no damage.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "has been informed by Iran that a projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening", the Vienna-based agency posted on social media. "No damage to the plant or injuries to staff reported."

Agency head Rafael Grossi "reiterates his call for restraint during the conflict to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident", the statement said.

SYDNEY, March 18 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an Iranian projectile on Wednesday hit near its Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, and that all Australian defence personnel were safe.

"There was minor damage to an accommodation block and a medical facility due to a small fire that was created as a result of that projectile hitting on a road leading up to that base," Albanese told reporters in Tasmania.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Having failed to clearly define an objective or exit strategy -- and sell the American public on a new war in Iran -- President Donald Trump finds himself at an impasse, mere weeks into the conflict.

Add to that the high-profile protest resignation of a senior US counterterrorism official on Tuesday, who said publicly that the Islamic republic posed "no imminent threat to our nation" and he couldn't "in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran."

March 18 (Reuters) - A drone attack targeted the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and an explosion was heard in the area, security sources said early on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Israel repeatedly struck central Beirut on Wednesday, with Lebanese authorities reporting a death toll of at least 12 including a director for Hezbollah's Al Manar TV channel, and began striking river crossings in south Lebanon.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when militant group Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

An Iranian missile barrage killed two people near Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, medics said Wednesday, with the national railway company announcing shrapnel impact disrupted train services.

Authorities reported that falling munitions had hit multiple sites in central Israel in the overnight barrage that triggered air raid sirens across the area, after another day of heavy Israeli bombardments in Iran and Lebanon.

The latest deaths took the toll from missile attacks on Israel since the start of the Middle East war late last month to 14 people.

March 17 (Reuters) - Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear energy corporation, condemned a strike on the territory of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday and called for de-escalation around the facility.

"We categorically condemn what has occurred and call on all sides in the conflict to use every effort to de-escalate the situation around the Bushehr nuclear power plant," the head of Rosatom, Aleksei Likhachev said in a statement.

March 17 (Reuters) - Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed at the age of 67 by a U.S.-Israeli air attack in Tehran, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said on Tuesday.

Following are some facts about Larijani:

Argentina's President Javier Milei on Tuesday slammed Iran and reiterated his support for the United States and Israel as he attended an event commemorating a deadly attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires some thirty years ago.

The bombing on March 17, 1992 involved a truck packed with explosives ramming into the Israeli embassy in the Argentine capital, killing 22 people and injuring more than 200.

March 17 (Reuters) - Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani was one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic, an architect of its security policy, and a close adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei until the supreme leader's death in an airstrike last month.

He has been killed at the age of 67, Iranian media said on Tuesday. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier on Tuesday that he had been killed in an Israeli strike.