New Strikes Light Up The Night In Tehran As Israel Vows ‘Many Surprises’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Iran war flared up late Saturday when columns of flame rose above an oil storage facility in Tehran and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “lots of surprises” for the next phase a week of conflict.

Israeli army confirms it hit fuel storage facilities in Tehran. Video from the Associated Press showed the horizon shining in the night sky over Tehran.

It seems that a civilian industrial facility was targeted for the first time in the war. State media blamed “the attack by the US and the Zionist regime” on the facility, which supplies the capital and neighboring provinces to the north.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that eight people were killed in southern Lebanon in Israeli airstrikes, and local media reported that an Israeli drone crashed into a hotel in Beirut, killing four people and wounding 10 others. The deaths come on top of at least 47 people killed in Saturday’s Israeli attacks.

Strikes and drone strikes in Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia also caused damage and some additional deaths.

Earlier in the day, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian apologized. Attacks on “neighboring countries” Even as his country’s missiles and drones flew towards Gulf Arab states, hardliners claimed that Tehran’s war strategy would not change.

The rift between politicians seeking to de-escalate the war and those determined to fight against the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic efforts. Conflicting statements came from two of the three members of the leadership council that oversees Iran. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Killed in the opening air strikes of the war.

Council member Pezeshkian also rejected US President Donald Trump’s call for Tehran’s unconditional surrender, saying: “This is a dream they should take to the grave.”

Without elaborating, Trump threatened that Iran would be “hit very hard” and that more “regions and groups of people” would become targets. There is already conflict Global markets were shaken and left Iran’s leadership It was weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American air strikes.

“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.”

He described the ongoing US operations in Iran as an “excursion” and said issues such as rising gas prices and the safety of Americans would improve once the conflict ends.

Pezeshkian’s seemingly hastily recorded message underlined the limited powers that theocracy leaders exercise over the state. paramilitary Revolutionary GuardIt controls hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. He seems to only answer to Khamenei and choose his own goals.

In Pezeshkian’s statement, the Iranian leadership council was in contact with the armed forces and said, “From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or launch missiles at them, unless those countries attack us. I think we need to solve this through diplomacy.”

The US attacks came from US bases and ships in the region, not from the Gulf Arab governments under attack.

But hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man leadership council, suggested the war strategy would not change.

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Iranian Parliament Speaker and former Revolutionary Guard general Mohammed Bagher Galibaf said in his statement on X, “As long as US bases in the region continue, countries will not be able to achieve peace.” He called for defense policies to be in line with the guidance of the late religious leader.

Iran’s UN mission later suggested, without providing any evidence, that the attacks on non-military sites “may have been caused by interference from US electronic defense systems.”

Late Saturday, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani claimed in a speech broadcast on state media that “our leaders are united on this issue and have no disagreements with each other.”

He also said the leadership council had requested “arrangements be made” for the Assembly of Experts to convene to elect the next supreme leader, but did not say when.

Trump said he rejected this possibility Kurds join the warAlthough Kurdish fighters in the region are willing to aid efforts to overthrow the Iranian government.

“The war is complicated enough without the Kurds getting involved,” Trump told reporters.

Days ago, Kurdish officials told the AP that Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups based in Northern Iraq were preparing for a military operation. a potential cross-border military operation He said he was in Iran and the US had asked the Iraqi Kurds to support them.

“Tehran is under severe bombardment,” and even people far from military and government targets are living in fear, said a university student in western Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Israel announced early Saturday that it had struck Tehran airport, which it said was used to transfer weapons and money to militant groups.

The United States and Israel have targeted Iran’s military capabilities, leadership, and nuclear program. Stated objectives and timelines of the war has changed many times As has been suggested from time to time that the US is trying to overthrow the Iranian government or promote new leadership.

At least 1,230 people died in the clashes, and more than 290 people died in Iran. Lebanon There are 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US soldiers was killed.

Missiles from Iran caused people to return to bomb shelters across Israel, without any casualties.

Three Iraqi security officials said a missile hit the helicopter landing pad at the US embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. An embassy spokesman declined to comment. No casualties were reported.

This was the first attack reported to have landed in Baghdad Heavily fortified Green Zone Since the Iran war started. Iran and its allied Iraqi militias have since launched dozens of attacks on US military bases and other facilities in Iraq.

Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani described the embassy attack as a “terrorist act” carried out by “rogue groups”.

US allies in the Gulf said the Trump administration: they were not given enough time to prepare for war.

Hours after Pezeshkian’s apology, the United Arab Emirates said aerial debris fell on a vehicle and killed a driver. Four people have been killed in the UAE since the start of the war. Authorities said they were all foreign nationals.

Sirens rang in the early hours of Saturday in bahrain While Iran targets the island kingdom. Saudi Arabia It said it destroyed drones heading towards the vast Shaiba oil field and shot down a ballistic missile launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base. Hosts US forces.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense said a wave of drones targeted critical infrastructure, including a direct attack on fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport. At least two people died in attacks in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press journalists Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting.