DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Satellite images are beginning to be released giving a glimpse into the toll of the Iran war, with ships ablaze in an Iranian port and destroyed buildings at an American base.
Information has so far been scarce about the damage being done across the Middle East, particularly when it’s inside closed military facilities, since the start of the war on Feb. 28.
The images come from Planet Labs PBC, a San Francisco-based firm used by media outlets, including The Associated Press. Planet Labs has put a two-week delay on its imagery becoming public citing concerns its imagery could be used by “adversarial actors.”
High-resolution images also have been published by competing firms. Other providers, like the U.S. Geological Survey, have been publishing lower-resolution imagery as well that’s been useful.
The U.S. and Israel have been striking a wide variety of targets, including leadership figures, military bases, missile and air defense sites and positions of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its volunteer force, the Basij. Iran has responded with drone and missile fire targeting Israel and nearby Gulf Arab nations.
Here’s a look at what’s visible in a selection of Planet Labs’ pictures, as well as others.
Some of the most dramatic images from Planet Labs so far have been in Bandar Abbas, home to a major Iranian military port next to the crucial Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
Images taken on March 2 show ships ablaze at the port. The U.S. military’s Central Command has been targeting Iran’s naval assets and says it has sank or damaged more than 100 Iranian vessels so far in the war.
The island kingdom of Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, has seen heavy Iranian fire targeting both military bases and oil installations. A March 1 image shot by Planet Labs shows a major building at the base destroyed, as well as two radomes — geodesic domes covering radar antennas — likely by Iranian missile and drone fire.
The Navy has not offered a clear breakdown in the damage done so far at the base, but Iran has repeatedly claimed to have attacked it. Online videos have also shown incoming fire targeting the base. During the 12-day war in June, Iran attacked and destroyed a similar radome at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar used for secure communications.
In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, there’s damage seen at France's Camp de la Paix naval base. Satellite images from March 3 show damage to two large hangar-like buildings at the facility. The base is near Zayed Port, in Abu Dhabi, and close to its Cultural District that includes the Louvre Abu Dhabi and other major museums both open and still under construction.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites also have been key in spotting major fires. Imagery from Landsat taken on Monday showed a fire at Dubai International Airport after an Iranian drone strike set a fuel tanker ablaze at the world’s busiest airport for international travel, causing a plume of noxious black smoke.
Another fire was also seen on Monday at Oman's southern port in Salalah, which came under attack from suspected Iranian drones on March 11, though Tehran has denied it launched them in its campaign targeting Gulf Arab states. The fire apparently has been burning since then.
This satellite image taken by a U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellite shows the fire after an Iranian drone attack targeting the Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, March 16, 2026. (U.S. Geological Survey via AP)
This satellite image taken by a U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellite shows a fire days after a suspected Iranian attack targeting the port in Salalah, Oman, Monday, March 16, 2026. (U.S. Geological Survey via AP)
LONDON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia and Iran “brothers in hatred” on Tuesday as he sought support from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a time when the Iran war has robbed U.S.-brokered talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of momentum.
Zelenskyy urged Ukraine's allies not to forget about his country during a Middle East war that has also revived Russia’s ailing economy through increased oil revenue and could soon limit Kyiv’s access to vital Western air defense systems that are needed in the Middle East.
“The regimes in Russia and Iran are brothers in hatred and that is why they are brothers in weapons," Zelenskyy told lawmakers in Britain's Parliament. “And we want regimes built on hatred, to never, never win in anything."
Holding talks with Zelenskyy at 10 Downing Street, Starmer said “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin can’t be the one who benefits from the conflict in Iran, whether that’s oil prices or the dropping of sanctions."
The meeting came days after the U.S. temporarily waived some Russian oil sanctions in a bid to ease pressure on global supplies triggered by the war in the Middle East, which was sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting Feb. 28.
Zelenskyy and some other European leaders criticized Washington’s move to ease sanctions, saying it would provide a windfall for Moscow to keep up its attacks on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also met with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace before addressing dozens of members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in Parliament. He told them that other countries could learn from Ukraine’s agile adoption of technology, including drones and AI, for defense.
“The fact we got through this winter, which Russia tried to make deadly for all our families, shows that our solutions work,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said the London talks, also attended by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. would assess energy security, after Russia hammered Ukraine’s power grid over the winter, and the battlefield situation.
In Brussels, the European Union’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas noted Tuesday that Russia stands to gain from higher energy prices and the rerouting of advanced Western air defense systems from Ukraine to the Middle East.
But, she said, Ukraine “remains Europe’s top security priority and attention for Ukraine will not be allowed to fizzle out.”
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said the Iran war is bad for Ukraine, “mainly because of the oil price which feeds the Russian war machinery. The Russian economy was actually doing extremely badly a couple of weeks back. Now it’s bouncing back."
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to secure a peace deal that ends Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has rattled the continent’s leaders, who reckon that Russia could pose a credible security threat to the European Union by the end of the decade.
But the U.S.-mediated talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, which so far have yielded no significant progress on key issues, are on hold during the Middle East conflict.
Ukraine is the “ultimate loser” from the war with Iran, said Ed Arnold, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
That, he said, is because the war is draining stocks of American air defense missiles that are crucial for Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles and is diverting Washington’s attention from Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
Ukrainian teams have recently visited Gulf countries to discuss mutual interests, according to Zelenskyy.
It is important for Ukraine to secure deals with Gulf states for advanced air defense systems in exchange for Ukrainian anti-drone expertise and technology, said François Heisbourg, special adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.
Trump has spurned Zelenskyy’s offer of help for the United States and its Persian Gulf partners in fighting Iranian drones. Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading producers of high-tech, battle-tested drone interceptors.
British officials say Russia and Iran are collaborating on drone technology and tactics in the Middle East. Drone combat experts from the U.K. and Ukraine have been sent to the region to help Iran’s neighbors repel its drone attacks.
During Zelenskyy's visit, the U.K. and Ukraine signed a deal combining “Ukraine’s expertise and the U.K.’s industrial base to manufacture and supply drones and innovative capabilities.” Britain is also funding an “AI Center of Excellence” in conjunction with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 206 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russian regions, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Azov Sea. A total of 40 intercepted drones were flying toward Moscow, the ministry said.
Asked about an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow over the past few days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that authorities in Kyiv were “continuing absolutely futile resistance" against Russia's invasion.
Zelenskyy said late Monday that counterattacks by Ukrainian forces at eastern and southern points along the front line have wrecked Moscow's plans for a March offensive.
His comments couldn't be independently verified, but the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Monday that Ukrainian counterattacks “are likely constraining” some Russian offensive operations.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 178 long-range drones of various types across the country overnight, starting late Monday, with 154 of them either intercepted or jammed while 22 more struck their targets.
In the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike damaged a terminal of Ukraine’s biggest private delivery company, Nova Poshta, the company said on Telegram. Eight people were wounded, according to Ivan Fedorov, the head of the regional military administration.
Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a speech to Members of Parliament, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Committee Room 14 at the House of Commons, central London, Tuesday March 17, 2026. (Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's King Charles III, right, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, during an audience at the Buckingham Palace in London, England, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP, Pool)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to Downing Street in London, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Thomas Krych)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street in London, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Thomas Krych)
A post office storehouse ruined by Russia's missile in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Sappers examine the site of a Russian missile strike which hit a post office storehouse in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Sappers examine the site of a Russian missile strike which hit a post office storehouse in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
