Iranian president calls US sites in Gulf nations legitimate targets More blasts reported across the Middle East as war rages on Trump signals he will escalate war with Iran, Tehran mulls new US targets Iranian drone attack suspends flights at Dubai International airport.
DUBAI: Video grab shows smoke rising from Dubai International Airport on Saturday.
TEHRAN: Smoke and fire rise from site of airstrikes at Mehrabad International Airport.
DUBAI/TEHRAN/WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump, who called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” said on Saturday that Iran will be “hit very hard.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that it would suspend attacks on countries in the region unless an attack on Iran originated from those nations, but said the US demand of surrender is a dream that they should take to their grave.
The Kremlin early Saturday said Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Pezeshkian after reports that Russia is providing intelligence on U.S. positions to Iran.
Trump said the U.S. operation on Iran is going “very well” and that the results have been “amazing.”
Mr. Trump said the U.S. has knocked out Iran’s navy, air force and telecommunications. He said that the attack “had to be done” because the country was “very close to a nuclear weapon.”
He said the operation against Iran is “a service that we’re really providing, not for the Middle East, but for the world.”
Mr. Trump also acknowledged the United States servicemembers who had died since the war began, calling their deaths a “very sad situation” and calling them “great heroes in our country.”
Pezeshkian said Iran was attacking “legitimate targets” in Gulf nations shortly after issuing an apology to neighbors earlier Saturday.
“We have not attacked our friendly and neighboring countries; rather, we have targeted U.S. military bases, facilities, and installations in the region,” the president wrote on social media.
Pezeshkian said the strikes “are exclusively against targets and facilities that are the origin and source of aggressive actions against the Iranian nation.”
Pezeshkian said Iran will “stand firm to the last breath in defense of our country and resist” the joint operation by the United States and Israel. He said that while Iran “has always emphasized the preservation and continuation of friendly relations” with neighboring governments, it has an “inherent right to defend itself against military aggression.”
A spokesperson for the Iranian president’s office said that Pezeshkian’s message during his televised remarks on Saturday is “clear.” “If regional countries do not cooperate in a U.S. attack against us, we will not strike them,” Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, the deputy of communications for the Iranian president’s office, said on X. “The Islamic Republic of Iran will never submit to coercion, and our powerful armed forces will respond decisively to any aggression from U.S. bases in accordance with the issued directives. Earlier Saturday, Pezeshkian apologized for Iran’s attacks on regional countries.
There were more blasts heard in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Saturday evening local time, despite a suggestion earlier in the day from Iran’s president that strikes across the Gulf would cease.
There was a series of loud explosions in Bahrain, according to witnesses. It was not immediately clear whether they were caused by impacts or interceptions.
Iran’s official Fars news agency claimed there were “massive explosions at US bases in Bahrain.”
United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a thinly veiled threat to Iran, warning that his country is “not easy prey” and calling Tehran “the enemy” in a shift from the way the UAE traditionally frames its relationship with its Gulf neighbor.
In extremely rare public comments, the president, known as MBZ, said he “wanted to send a message to the enemy of the UAE.”
“The UAE is beautiful, the UAE is a model to be followed, but I tell you, do not be deceived by that,” he warned Tehran while visiting a hospital, which is treating civilians injured in the strikes. “The UAE’s hand can reach and is strong, its flesh is bitter, and we are not easy prey.”
MBZ’s comments, his first since this war began, were aired shortly after Emirati air defense systems responded to a missile threat despite Iran’s president suggesting earlier today that strikes across the Gulf would halt.
“We are carrying out our duty toward our country, our people, and those who live among us. May God protect the UAE, protect its people and everyone in it, and bless it with security and safety,” MBZ added. “I promise you that what is coming will show us stronger.”
Meanwhile, CNN staff in Qatar reported a series of loud bangs, and teams in Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, reported at least three loud blasts.
The UAE’s National Security Council posted on X that, “Air defense systems are currently responding to a missile threat,” advising people to “remain in a safe location.”
Earlier Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized to Arab Gulf nations for the impact of Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting US bases and said Iran would stop striking its neighbors unless it came under attack.
Pezeshkian’s office later issued an “explanation” that his message was clear: “if regional countries do not cooperate in America’s attack on us, we will not attack them.”
The Israeli military said Saturday that it struck 16 Iranian military aircraft during a “broad wave of strikes” in Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, claiming they were being used to send cash and weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force of using the airport, one of the two that serve the capital, as a “central hub for arming and funding the regime’s terrorist proxies” in the Middle East.
“Also targeted were several Iranian fighter jets that posed a threat to Israeli Air Force aircraft operating in Iranian airspace”, the statement added.
The Quds Force is a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that focuses on extraterritorial operations, unconventional warfare, and military intelligence.
Iranian foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said the U.S. hit a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf.
Aragachi, on social media, called the incident a “blatant and desperate crime,” and referred to it as an attack. He did not provide further details about it. Aragachi said that the water supply in 30 villages has been impacted.
“Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences,” Aragachi wrote. “The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.”
The U.S. has not issued a comment about the alleged incident.
The number of civilians killed in Iran following US and Israeli strikes in the country since last Saturday climbed to 1,172 as of 5 p.m. ET Friday, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency
More explosions have rocked cities across the Middle East on Saturday evening local time.
The fresh blasts in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates came hours after Iran’s president suggested strikes in neighboring Gulf states would cease — though he added that Iran reserved the right to strike areas where US attacks originated.
Meanwhile, A drone attack near the main terminals of Dubai International Airport temporarily suspended operations on Saturday morning just after Iran announced that it would no longer target neighbouring countries and apologising for the past attacks.
An Iranian drone attack in the vicinity of the terminals at Dubai International Airport forced the temporary suspension of operations on Sunday morning.
The Dubai Media Office issued a statement saying: “For the safety of passengers, airport staff, and airline crew, operations at Dubai International (DXB) have been temporarily suspended.”
Black smoke was seen rising over the airport after a loud boom, multiple eyewitness accounts said. Airport operations are reportedly now resuming.
Euronews correspondent Lily Douse was on board an Emirates plane bound for Cape Town this morning when the attacks happened and was subsequently disembarked to safety at an underground space inside the terminal with fellow passengers. After one hour in the shelter, the passengers boarded the plane which departed safely.
Authorities have not explained if there was an interception or damage at the airport, which is the world’s busiest for international travel. In Dubai, several blasts were heard Saturday morning and the government said it had activated air defences.
The attack comes as the Iranian interim leadership council approved yesterday that neighbouring countries will no longer be attacked unless an attack on Iran originates from there.
