Name: US-Israeli strikes hit street checkpoints in Iran | BBC News
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Mari I'm Marianne Moshiri live in Doha, where in the last hour an urgent warning alert on people's mobile phones asking people to stay indoors and keep away from windows, was set to come on to people's mobiles locally.

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Not long later, the Qatari Defense Ministry confirmed that it intercepted a missile attack and the alert was removed.

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Well, this has become very much part of daily life here in Doha as those living here learn to cope with these attacks and with their consequences.

But the consequences are not just regional, they are global because we've seen oil prices rising.

In fact, at one point earlier, they hit 00 a barrel once again as Iranian attacks on shipping continue in the Middle east despite dozens of countries announcing they would release record amounts of emergency reserves.

On the latest attacks, two tankers were hit near Iraq.

The Iraqi News Agency reports 38 crew members were rescued.

One other ship, a container carrier, was struck off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, very close to the Strait of Hormuz.

Well, Donald Trump says the US Would look strongly at the strait, which of course is a transit point for around 20% of the world's oil.

You can see here how the flow of traffic has pretty much ground to a halt since the conflict started.

The United States Central Command said Iran was losing air capability day by day as it released aerial footage of airstrikes on three aircraft.

We'll be discussing the implications for oil markets and the world economy with our correspondence across the region throughout the program.

But first, a look at what's going on inside Iran because the Israeli military says it's carried out more extensive strikes on the capital, Tehran, aimed at hitting the foundations of the regime.

What they described as a new stage of the war targeted a branch of Iran's oldest bank is said to play a key role in paying the salaries of the Iranian military.

Well, Iran's foreign minister said the bank was full of employees when it was bombed.

Militia run checkpoints and residential neighborhoods have also been targeted by the Israelis.

Let's hear now from rescuers combing through the rubble from an Israeli airstrike inside Tehran.

It is a residential area and there are no military installations here.

Rescue workers are trying to ensure that if anyone has been injured or is under the rubble, they are quickly transferred.

We're just hearing from the UNHCR that up to 1 million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside Iran as a result of the ongoing conflict.

Most of them are reportedly fleeing from the capital, Tehran and other major urban areas towards the north of the country and also to some rural areas to seek safety.

As for how many people have been killed inside Iran, well, Iranian officials say the figure now stands at more than 1300 people.

With me now from the BBC newsroom is Parham Gobardi from the BBC Persian service.

The Persian service is used by 24 million people around the world, the majority in Iran, despite being blocked routinely and jammed by Iranian authorities.

Just tell me a little bit about what we know with regards to what's happening inside Iran and those attacks that we've been hearing about.

So, Mariam, the most significant development over the past few hours is that the checkpoints have been attacked inside the country in Iran with drones.

Because, you know, after the war broke out, Iranian security forces started, started putting up checkpoints across the city.

They were patrolling the streets with heavy machine guns in order for the citizens to understand that they are still in power.

So they wouldn't take it to the street and protest while the country is involved in a war.

And the reason for that is that Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump said that their aim of this war is ultimately regime change.

So that has made Iranians, Iranian authorities really worried and concerned that it if the war coincides with domestic protests, that could be the end for the and it's an existential threat for the regime.

And let's not forget that only two months before the start of the war, there was this massive nationwide protest across the country where thousands of Iranian protesters were killed by security forces.

So attack in two days ago, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime Minister, said that in the coming days, Iranian people are going to see things changing and they're going to be able to hold their fate into their hands.

Now, two days after that statement, we see that the checkpoints in Tehran, at least four of them at least were targeted, killing some of the security forces.

That was interpreted by many analysts as a new phase of the war in order to change the balance of power for the Iranian protesters in comparison to the security forces.

But the big question is, will the Iranians take it to the streets while the bombs are being dropped on Iranian cities.

And it's not just about bombs on Iranian cities, is it, Parham?

It's also the fact that Iranian authorities are already warning people inside Iran, aren't they, not to come out, not to protest and to put on a united front against these attacks.

And that is going to have an impact on people, given the amount of people who were killed during those protests that you just mentioned there.

You pointed out an extremely important point because BBC Farsi has just received some text messages from people inside the country, messages sent by Iranian authorities to people's phones, cell phones, that they are asking for unity and also warning Iranians not to take to the streets and protest.

And that's not only through the text messages.

Iranian police chief the other day warned Iranians that if they take it to the street, they're going to be treated as enemies.

And their soldiers, their fingers are on the trigger.

So we have never seen things like that, that a police chief come to the, you know, come on national TV and threatening to kill the Iranian protesters.

And it's not only them, news anchors, news presenters, they clearly are threatening Iranian protesters that after the dust settles and this war is over, we're going to come to you and we're going to make your parents mourn over your dead bodies.

And when we talk to Iranians inside the country, one of the things that they're worried about the most, especially those who oppose the regime, is that what if this war is over?

We've seen, we've been bombed, you know, our economy has been shattered and we've, you know, we have suffered the most.

And at the end of the day, this regime is still in power and it's going to be more aggressive to its citizens because of the war.

Parham, thanks very much indeed for that.

Well, as we mentioned at the top of the program, three more civilian ships have been attacked in the Gulf overnight.

One, a container ship was struck by an unknown projectile near the Strait of Hormuz.

Two, tankers were also hit off the coast of Iraq, with the Reuters news agency saying they'd appear to be struck by Iranian boats laden with explosives.

Well, around 3,000 ships a month would normally pass through at the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

It's just over 20 miles across at its narrowest point and connects the Gulf with the Arabian Sea.

In normal times, around a fifth of the world's supply of oil and gas passes through the strait.

That's around 20 million barrels of oil a day.

Well, to see how few ships are passing through the vital waterway, let's have a look at this time lapse.

The same day in March last year seen on the left to this year's traffic seen on the right hand side.

Now, although some oil could be diverted along various pipelines instead, Reuters says that would still equate to almost halving supply.

Well, Justin Crump is a military veteran and intelligence analyst.

He explained to us why protecting ships in the strait represents a massive challenge for any military force.

You have a hostile shore all the way down the Gulf with, you know, who knows how many people from the irgc, Navy and others with a plethora of means at their disposal to make that passage of the strait very difficult.

And for U.S. navy warships in that environment, you know, it could be a pretty punchy fight.

So you wouldn't want to just send a US Navy vessel through it, run a number of risks on its own.

So you start saying, well, we need to suppress the far side of the strait.

Well, some of the drones have a 2,000 mile range.

So you need to clear any ability of drones 2000 miles to come in.

Okay, you could intercept them on the way out.

So you've now got an air bubble, you know, further away from the strait.

You, you've then got a suppression bubble on the far side of the strait from the air.

And eventually you say, well, we need to get troops on the far bank to secure that and push back the ability of the Iranians to launch small boats anywhere to put mines in the water.

This is a tremendously difficult and risky military operation for the U.S. navy.

It is not going to be a simple matter of forcing the strait against significant IRGC opposition if Iran wants to do that.

At the moment, they're attacking about a ship a day to make the point.

They have stronger options and it would take a lot of fighting to actually guarantee the straight open if that was done purely tomorrow by the U.S.

Now, a new newsline to bring you that's coming to us in the last few minutes.

It's only come to us on one news agency, that is Reuters.

But we are hearing that we can expect the first message from Iran's new supreme leader.

Much about Khamenei now, remember, he, he was declared the supreme leader just a few days ago, but

no one has heard from him or seen him since then.