The war intensified late Saturday when flames and smoke rose above an oil-storage site in Tehran after strikes that Israel said hit fuel depots. Associated Press footage showed a glowing horizon over the capital. Iranian state media accused “an attack from the US and the Zionist regime.” The facility, which supplies Tehran and nearby northern provinces, appeared to be among the first civilian industrial targets struck in the week-long conflict.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, issued an apology for attacks on “neighbouring countries,” urged diplomacy and said the country’s leadership council had instructed the armed forces not to strike neighbours unless first attacked. His remarks exposed a split inside Iran’s ruling structure and underscored how much authority the civilian government lacks over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which reports to the late supreme leader and controls many ballistic missiles and drones. Hard-line figures pushed back, insisting Iran’s military stance would not change.
Across the Gulf, missiles and drones linked to Iran struck or threatened Arab states, and governments reported intercepting additional projectiles. The United Arab Emirates said debris from an aerial interception struck a vehicle and killed an “Asian driver.” UAE officials say four people — all foreign nationals — have been reported killed there since the fighting began.
US President Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that “Today Iran will be hit very hard!” and said more Iranian officials would be targeted. He told reporters the US “isn’t looking to settle” and repeatedly characterized US operations as an “excursion.” Trump also rejected involving Kurdish fighters, saying it would complicate the war, and played down reports that Russia had shared targeting intelligence with Iran.
Violence spread into Lebanon and Iraq. Israel resumed strikes in southern Lebanon, focusing on commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Quds Force after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” in the next phase. An Israeli drone strike hit a hotel room in Beirut’s Raouche district, killing four and wounding others, and another strike struck an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, killing at least two. Israel said it would continue targeted operations against what it called Iranian terrorist elements in Lebanon.
In Iraq, a missile landed on the helicopter landing pad inside the US Embassy complex in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone — the first strike reported there since the war began — though Iraqi security officials reported no casualties. Drone strikes struck multiple sites in Sulaymaniyah in the northern Kurdish region, killing one person and damaging buildings including offices and a UN compound. A separate drone strike at Erbil International Airport killed one security worker and wounded another, while air defences were reported to have intercepted several incoming attacks.
Human Rights Watch called for a war-crimes probe into a February 28 blast at a school in Iran that killed more than 165 people, most of them children. Satellite imagery, expert analysis, comments from a US official and information released by US and Israeli militaries have suggested the explosion may have been caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent Revolutionary Guard compound. President Trump, without offering evidence, blamed Iran for the school blast and said Iranian munitions were “very inaccurate.”
The conflict has seen repeated attacks on US forces and facilities: Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of strikes on US bases and other installations in Iraq since hostilities began. There have also been reports of strikes affecting Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, and authorities in the region have warned of persistent threats to commercial and civilian infrastructure.
While diplomats and some Iranian officials seek de-escalation, the battlefield reality remains chaotic. Conflicting signals from Tehran’s civilian leaders and its powerful security organs, an expanding geographic scope of strikes and public vows of further punishment from Washington and Israel complicate the prospects for an immediate ceasefire or a negotiated settlement.
Agencies: AP, Reuters.
