State Department tells Americans worldwide to 'exercise increased caution'

Officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said early on Wednesday they were working to intercept Iranian drones or missiles.

"Kuwaiti air defense systems are currently engaged in intercepting hostile missiles and drones that breached the country's airspace," the official Kuwait News Agency said.

The UAE was responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran, officials there said, adding, "MOD asserts that the sounds heard are the result of the Air Defense Systems intercepting missiles and drones."

Qatar said it was countering a missile attack. The Saudi Ministry of Defense said in a series of updates that it was attempting to down hostile drones, several of which were aimed at its Eastern Province, where much of the country’s oil production takes place.

U.S. aircraft dropped "multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions" on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline by the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced.

The bombs are officially “bunker busters” designed to strike at reinforced targets and can also penetrate deep towards a target. Their use against hardened Iranian missile targets along the Strait of Hormuz is part of the ongoing effort to prevent Iran from striking at commercial shipping through the strait.

Many of the larger bombs the U.S. has been dropping are 2,000-pound bombs.

A bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bomb specifically designed to strike at deep underground facilities, was used last June to strike at Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.

Two people in Israel are dead following an Iranian missile barrage, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency response organization.

A man and woman died from "serious shrapnel injuries" in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, the organization said.

Search and rescue crews responded to several sites in central Israel following reports of impacts from Iranian launches, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council has confirmed that senior official Ali Larijani is dead.

In a statement published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Tuesday, the council said Larijani died alongside his son, a security deputy of the secretariat, and several members of his protection team. It did not provide details on how or where the deaths occurred.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli minister of defense said Larijani, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an overnight attack on Iran.