Bahrain Says Iran Hit A Desalination Plant, Stoking Fears Of Attacks On Civilian Sites

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain accused Iran of attacking a desalination plant on Sunday, raising fears that civilian infrastructure could become fair game in the war after Iran’s president vowed to expand the country’s attacks on American targets in the region in the face of intense U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.

An Israeli attack on an oil facility late at night on Sunday left parts of Iran’s capital Tehran covered in smoke; Israel, on the other hand, renewed its attacks in Lebanon. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have vowed to continue the nine-day campaign that has spread across the region with no end in sight.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian on Sunday threatened to step up attacks against American targets in the Middle East. He appeared to backtrack on conciliatory comments towards his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. These comments, in which he apologized for the attacks on his territory, were quickly denied by Iranian conservatives.

in Lebanon, The Israeli attacks brought the death toll to more than 300 after Israel ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of people ahead of an offensive aimed at destroying Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

In the war that Israel and the USA started with air strikes on February 28, according to officials, at least 1,230 people have lost their lives in Iran, more than 300 in Lebanon, and about a dozen in Israel. Six US soldiers They were also killed.

The conflict has shaken global markets, disrupted air travel and weakened Iran’s leadership amid hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.

The impact of the war on the oil industry will continue to grow, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Sunday, warning that it may soon become difficult to both produce and sell oil.

Some regional producers, including Iraq, have already cut production due to dangers in the Strait of Hormuz.

“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to fight back. The more pressure they put on us, the stronger our reaction will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said in his video commentary on Sunday. “Our Iran, our country, will not and has never surrendered easily in the face of tyranny, oppression or aggression.”

These remarks, which were completely different in tone, came a day after Pezeshkian said Iran regretted the regional concerns caused by Iranian attacks and called on neighboring states not to take part in US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

While many Gulf countries reported that they had seized missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles from Iran, Pezeshkian said that the country did not want to fight with them and accused the United States of trying to turn the countries against each other.

Iranian conservatives immediately opposed these remarks. Judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei wrote about

Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are part of the three-member leadership council that has overseen Iran since an earlier attack killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Pezeshkian’s statements on Sunday reinforced Iran’s promises that it will not surrender despite threats from the United States and Israel; US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that their aim is to replace Iran’s leaders.

“We have no intention of settling,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. “They want to settle. We are not looking to settle.”

Gulf states such as Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reported additional Iranian missiles were launched against them on Sunday; These include missiles that also hit new categories of civilian infrastructure.

The United Arab Emirates said Iran launched more than 100 missiles and drones at the new dams. The country’s defense ministry said only four drones crashed in unnamed locations.

Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, but its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. The island country, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is among the countries targeted by Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles. The attacks hit hotels, ports and residential towers and left at least one person dead.

The desalination plant strike came after Iran said a US airstrike damaged a desalination plant in Iran. The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that the attack on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz cut off the water supply of 30 villages. He warned that by doing so, “the United States, not Iran, set this precedent.”

Neither U.S. Central Command nor the Israeli military had immediate comment on the facility.

Desalination plants provide water For millions of residents in the region, this has raised fears of new risks in arid desert countries.

Iran also said on Sunday that four oil storage tankers and an oil transfer terminal were hit in Israeli attacks overnight, killing four people. Eyewitnesses in Tehran said the smoke from the fire engulfing a northern Tehran oil depot was so thick it felt as if the sun had not risen.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on Sunday that nearly 10,000 civilian structures were damaged across the country, including homes, schools and medical facilities. He warned the people of Tehran to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain after Israeli attacks set fire to oil depots in the region.

Veys Karami, General Manager of Iran National Petroleum Products Distribution Company, said in his statement to Iran’s state news agency that Iran has enough fuel. The Israeli military said on Saturday that the targeted oil depots were used by the Iranian military.

Israel renewed its offensive early Sunday against parts of Lebanon, where health officials reported 12 more deaths, bringing the death toll there to more than 300.

The Israeli military has ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate across large parts of the country, including parts of the Beirut region, during the offensive it says is aimed at destroying Iranian-backed forces. He warned the people of southern Lebanon to go north on Sunday morning.

Israel’s renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in the early days of the war. The subsequent strikes were the most intense since the ceasefire in November 2024.

Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon at that time but continued almost daily attacks, especially in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah was trying to rebuild its positions there. Last week, Hezbollah said it had run out of patience and was left with no option but to fight after more than a year of complying with a ceasefire while Israel’s attacks on Lebanon continued.

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press reporters Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting.