Iran War: What’s Happening on Day 9 of US-Israel Attacks? | Explanatory news

The United States and Israel continue to attack Iran, attacking oil storage depots and refining facilities for the first time.

The United States and Israel continue large-scale attacks on Iran, including an attack on an oil depot on Saturday, as the conflict has expanded to include the Gulf region as well as Lebanon and Iraq.

Iran has said the United States will pay for waging the war and continued its retaliatory attacks against Israel and U.S. military assets in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, even though Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed Saturday to halt attacks on the Gulf states as long as their territories were not used to attack Iran.

This is how things are on the ninth day of the war:

In Iran

• Military attacks and increasing casualties: The United States and Israel have continued large-scale attacks on Iran, attacking oil storage depots and refining facilities for the first time in the country. Late on Saturday, local media captured images of a massive fire ravaging the Shehran oil depot on the outskirts of Tehran. The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the attack on fuel storage sites and related sites that it alleges are affiliated with the Iranian military. At least 1,332 people have been killed since Israel and the United States launched attacks on February 28.
• The United States demands: President Donald Trump continued his demand for an “unconditional surrender” from Iran. Late on Saturday, he stated that the war would continue “for a while,” but emphasized that Washington was not seeking “to reach an agreement with Tehran.”
• Threats and maritime movements: The Iranian military confirmed that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, but explicitly stated that it would attack any American or Israeli ship attempting to pass through it. On Saturday, when asked by reporters about the lack of traffic through the strait, Trump said it was due to the choice of ships and claimed that Washington had “eliminated” Iran’s navy.
• Relations with neighbors: President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated that Tehran wants good relations with brotherly neighboring countries and stated that the enemy is trying to create divisions. Pezeshkian said his comments were “misinterpreted by the enemy who seeks to sow division with neighbors,” state television reported Sunday. His comments came as countries in the Gulf region reported drone attacks from Iran.
• Iran’s new leadership: Ayatollah Mohammad-Mahdi Mirbagheri, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, hinted that a decision on the successor to slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was near. In a video posted by the Fars news agency on Telegram, Mirbagheri stated that “great efforts had been made to determine the leadership” and that “a decisive and unanimous opinion” had been reached.
• War crimes: Human Rights Watch said the attack on a primary school in southern Iran that killed at least 160 people, many of them schoolchildren, should be investigated as a war crime. Al Jazeera’s investigation also found that the attack on the school was likely “deliberate,” while The New York Times reported that the attack may have been carried out by the United States.
• Intelligence report: A report by the US National Intelligence Council concluded that a “large-scale” US-led attack on Iran was unlikely to bring down the country’s government, according to The Washington Post. The report also described as “unlikely” the prospect of the fragmented Iranian opposition taking control of the country.
• Oil trade: The war has shaken global markets and oil prices have hit multi-year highs, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed. In a week of war, the price of Brent crude oil rose 27 percent, the largest weekly gain since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the Gulf nations

• Bahrain: An Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant in Bahrain, the country’s Interior Ministry said. This comes a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States attacked a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran, setting a “precedent.” There was no immediate comment from Iran following Bahrain’s statement. Most Gulf countries rely heavily on desalinated water for their people’s consumption.
• Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates: The three countries reported the arrival of missiles and drones to their territories, despite the Iranian president’s assurances that there would be no attacks against neighboring countries. Kuwait said two border security personnel were killed while on duty and that attacks on its international airport and social security office also caused fires.
• Saudi Arabia: He said an attack on Riyadh’s diplomatic headquarters was thwarted and several drones were shot down in its airspace.
• Gulf Cooperation Council: The GCC said Iran’s continued attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait are “dangerous acts of aggression” that threaten regional security and stability. The bloc consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• Aviation and evacuation updates: Following major regional airspace closures and flight cancellations, Qatar’s Hamad International Airport partially resumed air navigation via specific “emergency routes.” Qatar Airways operated special flights from London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt and Bangkok to Doha on Sunday. According to the airport’s website, all of those flights landed safely.

In Israel

• Iranian attacks: The Israeli military said Iran launched several missiles toward Israel. Air raid sirens were activated in southern Israel, including the Negev Desert.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the latest attack as “wave 27 of Operation True Promise.”

in the united states

• War timeline: President Trump said the war would continue “for a while” and was going “incredibly well” for the US military. The White House has said the campaign could last four to six weeks.
• American victims: The coffins of the six American service members killed in Iranian retaliatory attacks against the United States arrived in the United States. Trump presided over the arrival ceremony for the slain soldiers as commander in chief of the US military. He described their deaths as a “very sad day” for Americans.
• Pentagon’s main threat: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a new threat to Iran. “If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation, and we will kill you,” he said in X.
• Nuclear arsenal: Axios reported that the United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of deploying special forces to seize Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The media outlet said the mission would likely take place “at a later stage” of the war.

In Lebanon, Iraq

• Israeli forces bombed a hotel in central Beirut, killing at least four people and wounding 10 others. The Israeli military said it had attacked “key commanders of the Lebanese Quds Force” operating in Beirut.
• Early on Sunday, Israel carried out an incursion into the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
• Israel threatened residents of the villages of Arnoun, Yohmor, Zrariyeh East and Zrariyeh West in southern Lebanon with an imminent attack, ordering them to immediately flee to the north of Nabatieh governorate.
• Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli forces in the southern Lebanese city of Marba.
• A growing number of residents have fled areas including Tire and the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Beirut schools are now used as shelters.
• Kurdish Peshmerga forces shot down a drone over the Kurdish area of ​​Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq amid a series of airstrikes in the region, according to news outlet Rudaw.
• Trump said he did not want to make the war “more complex than it already is” by allowing the Kurds to join it. Previously, several publications had reported that Trump was in active talks with Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups, and that Washington hoped to use them to spur a popular uprising.
• Iraqi Brigadier General Haider al-Kharki has said that neither Iraqi forces nor members of the Kurdish Peshmerga regional forces have crossed into Iran since the US-Israel war began in the country.