On another front, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted armed groups hostile to the Islamic republic in the autonomous Kurdish region of neighbouring Iraq.

Israel launched a new wave of air strikes on the Iranian capital and across Lebanon, where Tehran's proxy Hezbollah said it responded by targeting Israeli sites including a military base near Tel Aviv.

Iran also claimed it had total control over the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit, and where several ships have reportedly been attacked in since the start of the war.

Sparked by a massive US-Israeli attack that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the war has seen Iran lash out with missile and drone strikes from Israel across the Gulf.

Cities like Dubai and Riyadh, which have long taken pride in their safety from the tumult of the region, have been drawn in, with the growing chaos sparing few countries in Iran's vicinity and beyond.

- 'Fighting to win' -

A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean during an attack called "quiet death", Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.

It was the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II. "Like in that war," Hegseth said, "we are fighting to win."

Sri Lankan authorities said the bodies of 87 bodies of Iranian sailors had been recovered.

On another front, a missile launched from Iran was destroyed by NATO's air defence system while heading towards Turkey's airspace, drawing condemnation from Ankara and NATO.

A Turkish official told AFP that Turkey was not the target of the missile, but rather that it had "veered off course" and had been aimed at a base in Cyprus.

In the Gulf, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had total control of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, after President Donald Trump has said the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the waterway.

Earlier, the Revolutionary Guards warned ships against entering the strait, and major shipping firms have already suspended transit through the waterway with maritime agencies reporting several ships attacked.

- South Lebanon evacuation -

In Lebanon, which Hezbollah dragged into the war, Israel expanded its air strikes, targeting the area around the presidential palace and the militant group's south Beirut bastion, killing 11 people, according to Lebanese authorities.

The Israeli military also warned people living south of Lebanon's Litani river -- an area of hundreds of square kilometres -- to evacuate, saying that the army was "compelled to take military action" against Hezbollah in the area.

A hotel hit by an air strike in Hazmieh, a predominantly Christian area in Beirut's suburbs, was "just a stone's throw from my home," resident Lena told AFP.

Iran meanwhile announced that the state funeral for Khamenei that had been planned for Wednesday had been postponed.

Tehran has said it is trying to appoint a new supreme leader as soon as possible. Israel has already vowed to assassinate any successor to Khamenei.

- Bigger than 'shock and awe' -

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted two cruise missiles as well as a drone targeting its huge Ras Tanura refinery, while drones struck near the US consulate in Dubai, starting a fire, and a missile hit the US military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar.

The UAE and Qatar both said they had intercepted drone and missile salvos on Wednesday, with Abu Dhabi saying it had been targeted by three ballistic missiles and 129 drones, intercepting all but eight drones.

Kuwait has also been struck, with the health ministry announcing the death of an 11-year-old girl killed after she was hit by falling shrapnel.

Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began.

The Pentagon has announced the deaths of six US service members since Saturday, four of them in Kuwait.

The United States encouraged all Americans to leave the region if they could find commercial flights, though air travel has been severely disrupted, while governments including Britain and France sent chartered flights to get their citizens out.

- 'You'd think no one lived here' -

Iran has repeatedly vowed to inflict a heavy price in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes, with the judiciary saying that those who aid the country's enemies "will be dealt with decisively and severely".

In Tehran, residents who have not fled remained shut away in their homes, fearing the US-Israeli bombardment.

The Iranian capital is normally home to around 10 million people, but in recent days "there are so few people that you'd think no one ever lived here", said Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse.

burs/dl/ser

ADMIRAL GROUP