- 'Underestimated' -

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said "some countries" had begun mediation efforts to end the war.

"Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict," said Pezeshkian in a post on X.

- Ukraine sending drone experts -

Ukrainian military personnel are expected to arrive in the Gulf "in the near future" to help countries there fend off Iranian drone attacks, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Friday.

Kyiv has developed a range of cheap and effective drone interceptors since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the United States had appealed for help from Kyiv downing Iranian drones that have been pummelling Israel and the Gulf over recent days.

- 'Plenty of oil' -

"There is plenty of oil, we have no oil shortage," International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said as the conflict raged. "There is a huge surplus in the market."

Crude prices have soared since the war's outbreak, fanning fears of a fresh spike in inflation.

Iraqi Kurdish authorities said on Friday that oil production at an oil field operated by US firm HKN Energy had been halted following an attack.

- Iran attacks US bases -

Iran's army said on Friday it had attacked US bases in Kuwait and vowed that it would press on with further strikes.

"These attacks will continue in the coming hours," the army said, according to Iranian state TV.

- Prayers -

Crowds of Iranians gathered in central Tehran and elsewhere for the first Friday prayers since the start of the war.

Online footage shared by Iranian media showed crowds of men and women dressed in black, some carrying Iranian flags, streaming to an open space outside the Grand Mosque of Imam Khomeini in the capital.

- Israel strikes Sidon -

Israel struck a building on a main thoroughfare of the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, state media said, without prior warning.

The strike targeted the tenth floor of an office building near two shelters for displaced people, an AFP photographer said.

Rescuers removed at least one body and were gathering human remains, the photographer said.

- Maersk halts further shipping -

Danish shipping giant Maersk said it was suspending two intercontinental transit routes because of the war, its service connecting the Far East to the Middle East, and the route connecting the Middle East to Europe.

- 'Humanitarian disaster' -

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that "a humanitarian disaster is looming" as a result of Israeli evacuation orders that are causing a massive displacement of the population.

Residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut and of the south of the country, both Hezbollah strongholds, have fled in large numbers following unprecedentedly wide evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

- 'Transparent and impartial' -

The United Nations rights chief called for "transparent and impartial investigations" into an alleged deadly strike on a school in Iran, urging Washington to move "very quickly" with its announced probe.

- Kuwait casualties -

Kuwait's defence ministry said 67 army personnel have been injured since the beginning of Iran's retaliation campaign -- the highest number by far of any Gulf military.

- Israel targets 'regime infrastructure' -

Israel said it had launched a wave of strikes on Tehran, targeting "regime infrastructure" in a "new phase" of the war.

AFP journalists in Tehran heard loud blasts in parts of the city and Iranian media reported heavy strikes.

An Iranian official said at least 20 people had died in US and Israeli strikes in the southern city of Shiraz. AFP could not independently verify the toll.

- Blasts over Tel Aviv -

Several blasts were heard over Israel's commercial hub of Tel Aviv, AFP journalists reported, after the military said it had detected new missiles launched from Iran.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the military said.

- Missile alerts by phone -

Residents of Dubai received an Emirati interior ministry alert on their phones urging them to shelter from potential missile threats, AFP correspondents reported.

"Due to the current situation, potential missile threats, seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building and steer away from windows, doors and open areas," the alert read.

burs-st/jxb