Iran threatened to expand its operations after Gulf Arab states reported new missile and drone attacks on Sunday and called for the evacuation of three key ports in the United Arab Emirates as the war in the Middle East, now in its third week, widens.
Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28, saying they were striking nuclear and military sites and encouraging the Iranian people to rise up against their leaders. Iran has responded with attacks against Israel and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf.
The war has boosted global aviation, disrupted oil exports from the region and driven up fuel prices.
US President Donald Trump said he hoped countries dependent on oil and gas exports would send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz. No one had responded with firm commitments by Sunday, though some said action was being considered.
A day after Iran threatened three Emirati ports, Israel said it continued to attack Iran on Sunday as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE told residents they were working to intercept incoming missiles, the first time it has done so against non-US assets in the neighboring country.
Iran had previously accused the US of launching Friday’s attack on Kharg Island by the UAE without providing evidence for the allegation. The UAE and other Gulf countries that host US bases have refused to allow them to use their land or airspace for military operations against Iran, including toward the island, which is home to Iran’s primary oil terminal.
Iran says the US was attacked by the UAE
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had attacked Kharg and Abu Musa islands from locations in the UAE. He called the escalation dangerous and said Iran would “try to be careful not to attack any populated area.”
US Central Command said it had no comment on Iran’s statement.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, rejected Iran’s claim that the US had used Emirati land or airspace for the attack on Kharg Island.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones during the war against the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. It says it targets US assets even when Iranian attacks are reported on civilian sites such as airports and oil fields. Although their air defenses prevented much, the war caused significant damage and disrupted economies in the Gulf states.
Araghi told London-based Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed on Sunday that Iran was ready to consider any offer that included a “complete end” to the war and that mediation efforts were underway to de-escalate between Iran and its neighbors.
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He has not given any indication of progress.
Trump urges countries to send warships to Strait of Hormuz
Trump said on Saturday that China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others would send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe” as global concerns over oil prices and supplies rise. Those countries depend more than the US on oil and gas passing through the strait.
“We are looking hard with our allies at what we can do, because it is very important that we reopen the strait,” UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News, adding that “ending this conflict is the best and surest way to reopen the strait.”
South Korea’s foreign ministry said it would closely coordinate with Washington and review Trump’s proposal.
Araghi, in a social media post, described Trump’s call as “begging”. Iran’s Joint Military Command reiterated its threat to attack US-aligned “oil, economic and energy infrastructure” in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is damaged.
The toll of war is increasing
Since the war began, Iranian attacks have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf countries, most of them migrant workers.
In Iran, more than 1,300 people have died so far, the International Committee for the Red Cross said. Iran’s health ministry said 223 women and 202 children were among the dead, according to the judiciary’s official news agency Mizan.
In Israel, an Iranian missile attack killed 12 people and wounded many more, including three on Sunday. At least 13 members of the US military have also been killed since the war began; Six of them were killed in a plane crash in Iraq last week.
Meanwhile, at least 820 people have died in Lebanon, according to its health ministry, and 850,000 have been displaced since Iran-backed Hezbollah began pounding Israel, and Israel responded with strikes and additional troops into southern Lebanon.
Rain deepens misery in Lebanon
In downtown Beirut, displaced families repaired tents battered by wind and rain on Sunday.
Fadi Younes, displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs, told The Associated Press that his beds and blankets were soaked.
“We don’t know where this will end,” he said, adding that he hoped to return home. “A man is only truly comfortable in his own home.”
In Haret Hrek, one of the southern suburbs, there was not a person in sight when crews arrived to clear the roads of rubble.
“The important thing is that the roads are open to hospitals and people,” said excavator driver Hachem Fadlallah.
In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people – one in every seven residents of Lebanon – have been displaced, just over a year since the last conflict uprooted more than a million Lebanese from their homes.
Israel has been hit by most of Iran’s missile attacks
Iran fired a barrage of missiles toward Israel on Sunday, sending residents scrambling for shelter as sirens blared and several strikes hit central Israel and the Tel Aviv region.
Magen David Adam, Israel’s rescue service, released video of a large crater in a street and damage to an apartment building.
The strikes in the Tel Aviv area damaged 23 sites and sparked a small fire on Sunday.
Multi-site effects are a hallmark of the war, as Iran says it is firing cluster bombs that can evade some air defenses and spread submunitions over multiple locations.
–Metz reported from Ramallah, the West Bank and Frankel from Jerusalem. Associated Press journalists Sally Abou Aljoud and Fadi Tawil in Beirut and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report.
(tags to translate)Iran
