Middle East crisis live: Iran warns of retaliation after Trump says military targets on Kharg Island ‘obliterated’ | US-Israel war on Iran
Interim summary
Hello and thank you for following our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
If you are just joining us, here is a quick recap of what you need to know.
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Iran’s armed forces threatened on Saturday to destroy oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms that cooperated with the US if its own energy facilities were attacked. The announcement was in “response to statements” made by the Trump, who earlier said on social media that strikes had “obliterated” military targets on Kharg Island, an Iranian oil hub.
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Trump said he had chosen not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, which serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments. But he added: “Should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
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The US embassy in Baghdad was attacked on Saturday morning following strikes that killed two members of a powerful Iran-backed group in the capital, AFP reported. It was unclear if the embassy was hit by a drone or projectile. Associated Press reported that a missile has struck a helipad inside the embassy’s compound.
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The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for a designated industrial area in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, saying it would “conduct operations in this area in the coming hours”.
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Qatari authorities evacuated parts of Doha’s Msheireb district, which includes government offices and a Google office, early on Saturday. Its ministry of defence later said it had intercepted two missiles.
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Hamas has called on Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring countries, in a statement that also affirmed Iran’s to defend itself against US and Israeli attacks.
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The US energy department said it expects initial deliveries of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve will begin moving to the market by the end of next week. Members of the 32-nation International Energy Agency, announced earlier this week they would unlock 400m barrels of oil in an effort to bring down prices.
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A Jewish school in Amsterdam was damaged in an explosion that the city’s mayor Femke Halsema has described as a deliberate attack against the Jewish community. The explosion caused limited damage and no injuries were reported.
Key events
French president Emmanuel Macron said Lebanon was ready to engage in “direct talks” with Israel and offered to host negotiations in Paris.
“The Lebanese government has signalled its willingness to engage in direct talks with Israel,” he said in a post on X.
“France is ready to facilitate these talks by hosting them in Paris,” Macron said, adding he had spoken to the president and prime minister of Lebanon.
It is imperative to do everything possible to prevent Lebanon from sliding into chaos.
Hezbollah must immediately halt its escalatory approach. Israel must abandon any large-scale attack and cease its intensive airstrikes, at a time when hundreds of thousands of residents have already fled the shelling.
US ‘hideouts’ in UAE are ‘legitimate’ targets, IRGC warns
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned the UAE that US “hideouts” in the country are “legitimate” targets after American forces struck Kharg Island.
In a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, an official from the Khatam-al Anbiya central headquarters, which coordinates the army and IRGC, ordered UAE residents to stay away from ports, docks and US military areas “to avoid any harm”.
A translation of its statement read:
We declare to the leaders of the Emirates that the Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its legitimate right, in defence of its national sovereignty and territory, to strike the source of American enemy missile launches at the ports, docks, and hideouts of US military personnel in some of the cities of the Emirates.
Iran’s culture and tourism ministry said at least 56 museums and historic sites across the country have been damaged by US-Israeli strikes, the AFP news agency reported.
The most serious confirmed damage to date has been to Tehran’s 14th century Golestan Palace, a world heritage site under the protection of the UN’s cultural body, Unesco.
Naghsh-e Jahan Square, a 17th-century architectural jewel in the heart of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, has also been damaged, the ministry said.
The Guardian’s Julian Borger and Deepa Parent reported earlier this week of the Iranian hertiage sites that have suffered damage in the US-Israeli bombing campaign, as an Iranian official accused both countries of “a declaration of war on a civilisation”. You can read their report here:
Iran’s army appeals to Muslim leaders in Middle East to unite against US ‘hollow power’ – report
The Iranian army has appealed to Muslim leaders of the Middle East for unity against the “hollow power” of the US and Israel, state media reported.
Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi, the senior spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, addressed the leaders of Muslim countries in the region saying they should “trust” Iran and unite the Islamic world “against infidelity, polytheism, and hypocrisy” in the US and Israel, according to a translation of his statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“Do not trust the hollow power of America, an America that cannot even defend its own faltering army and will be unable to secure the safety of Muslim countries and the region,” he was quoted as saying.
He also repeated claims of Iranian military victories against US targets which American officials have denied.
Map: US/Israeli strikes and Iranian retaliatory attacks in the Middle East
Ten foreign nationals arrested in UAE for sharing videos of drone attacks on social media – report
Ten foreign nationals have been detained in the UAE for allegedly posting footage on social media of missile and drone attacks in the country, the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
They were alleged to have shared videos featuring real footage of air defence systems intercepting attacks, as well as AI-generated content of purported attacks on prominent landmarks, according to the news agency. The report does not state their nationalities.
The report says sharing such footage “whether real or fabricated, could affect public security”. UAE general prosecutor Hamad Al Shamsi was quoted as saying the crimes are punishable by imprisonment of at least a year and a fine of at least 100,000 dirhams (about £20,000).
Earlier this week, a British man was charged in the UAE under cybercrime laws in connection with filming and posting material related to Iranian attacks on the country. The 60-year-old, understood to be a tourist who was visiting Dubai, was among 20 people charged under a law that prohibits sharing material that could disturb public security.
The Associated Press news agency shared a report from Iranian state media of an airstrike in the western Iranian city of Eyvan that killed six members of the same family.
Mizan news agency, the official news outlet of Iran’s judiciary, said one of those killed was a six-month-old baby.
Interim summary
Hello and thank you for following our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
If you are just joining us, here is a quick recap of what you need to know.
-
Iran’s armed forces threatened on Saturday to destroy oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms that cooperated with the US if its own energy facilities were attacked. The announcement was in “response to statements” made by the Trump, who earlier said on social media that strikes had “obliterated” military targets on Kharg Island, an Iranian oil hub.
-
Trump said he had chosen not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, which serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments. But he added: “Should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
-
The US embassy in Baghdad was attacked on Saturday morning following strikes that killed two members of a powerful Iran-backed group in the capital, AFP reported. It was unclear if the embassy was hit by a drone or projectile. Associated Press reported that a missile has struck a helipad inside the embassy’s compound.
-
The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for a designated industrial area in Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, saying it would “conduct operations in this area in the coming hours”.
-
Qatari authorities evacuated parts of Doha’s Msheireb district, which includes government offices and a Google office, early on Saturday. Its ministry of defence later said it had intercepted two missiles.
-
Hamas has called on Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring countries, in a statement that also affirmed Iran’s to defend itself against US and Israeli attacks.
-
The US energy department said it expects initial deliveries of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve will begin moving to the market by the end of next week. Members of the 32-nation International Energy Agency, announced earlier this week they would unlock 400m barrels of oil in an effort to bring down prices.
-
A Jewish school in Amsterdam was damaged in an explosion that the city’s mayor Femke Halsema has described as a deliberate attack against the Jewish community. The explosion caused limited damage and no injuries were reported.
Reuters has reported further details on the explosion that damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam early on Saturday:
The explosion happened in an upscale residential neighbourhood on the south side of Amsterdam, and caused limited damage. No injuries were reported.
Security at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Dutch capital had already been heightened after an overnight arson attack at a synagogue in the centre of Rotterdam on Friday.
In neighbouring Belgium, an explosion caused a fire at a synagogue in Liege on Monday.
Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said the attack was “a cowardly act of aggression against the Jewish community”.
“Jewish people in Amsterdam are increasingly confronted with antisemitism. This is unacceptable,” she said.
An Israeli strike hit an apartment building in a northern Beirut suburb that had also been targeted a day earlier, Lebanese media reported on Saturday.
An AFP correspondent saw rescue workers at the scene and damage, including a hole, in a building in the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area, outside Iran-backed Hezbollah’s strongholds in the capital’s southern suburbs.
A Jewish school in Amsterdam was damaged in an explosion that the city’s mayor has described as a deliberate attack against the Jewish community, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
The explosion, which happened early on Saturday, caused limited damage, Mayor Femke Halsema told ANP.
Hamas urges Iran to stop ‘targeting neighbouring’ countries
Hamas has called on Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring countries, in a statement released on Saturday.
The group said:
While affirming the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to this aggression by all available means in accordance with international norms and laws, the movement calls on the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighbouring countries.
Hamas previously condemned the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war as a “heinous crime”.
“He provided all forms of political, diplomatic and military support to our people, our cause, and our resistance,” Hamas said soon after the killing of Khamenei.
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