Iran on Saturday threatened for the first time to attack infrastructure of a neighboring country, urging people to evacuate three major ports in the United Arab Emirates it claimed the U.S. military was using to launch strikes on Iran.
The warning sharpens fears of an escalating war on the vital infrastructure for global energy supplies, as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Gulf neighbors,
saying it targets U.S. assets even as airports and oil facilities have been hit or threatened. America and Israel have struck thousands of targets across Iran during the war, now in its third week.
On Friday, President Donald Trump said U.S. forces “obliterated” military sites on Iran’s Kharg Island, home to the country’s main oil export terminal, prompting Iranian officials to warn of further retaliation.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war against Hezbollah has deepened Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis, with about 800 people killed and more than 850,000 displaced.
Here is the latest:
Apparent fire from a heavy machine gun sparked a blaze at the U.N. peacekeeping force position near the village of Mais al-Jabal, and the peacekeeper was hurt on his way to a shelter.
Kandice Ardiel, a spokeswoman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, said it launched an investigation and reminds all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers at all times.
U.N. positions in southern Lebanon have been hit several times during exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah, including on March 6 when three peacekeepers were wounded at a UNIFIL base.
Mizan, Iran’s official judiciary news agency, claimed without evidence that U.S. forces are located in the civilian ports of Jebel Ali, Khalifa and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates — making the ports “legitimate targets” for Iranian attacks.
The news agency urged people in and around those ports to immediately evacuate, saying the facilities “may be targeted in the coming hours.”
Earlier Saturday, a drone interception sparked a fire near Fujairah’s port but there were no casualties, according to the Fujairah media office.
During the war, Gulf Arab states have faced seemingly unending and occasionally fatal Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting oil fields, cities and critical infrastructure.
Jebel Ali Port in Dubai is the busiest in the Middle East.
The two ships were carrying liquefied petroleum gas on their way to India, the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a briefing Saturday.
He did not specify where the carriers Shivalik and Nanda Devi had departed from.
The crucial strait has been virtually closed because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Kharg Island Terminal is the beating heart of Iran’s oil export system, strategically located in the Persian Gulf. For decades, it has been essential in connecting Iran’s vast oil reserves with the global market.
The infrastructure on Kharg Island is impressive, with massive storage tanks and pipelines built to handle millions of barrels of crude oil daily. Large oil tankers regularly dock there, transporting oil extracted from fields in southwestern Iran. The setup allows Iran to manage its exports efficiently, even when faced with sanctions.
Historically, Kharg Island has been through difficult times, including being targeted during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War due to its critical role in Iran’s economy.
▶ Read more about Iran’s strategic islands
The attack wounded two security personnel and damaged the building in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region.
It was the second attack on the facility in less than a week, the ministry said in a statement. It called on Iraqi authorities to investigate and hold those responsible to account.
According to TankerTrackers, two tankers were loading oil on Kharg on Saturday, hours after the U.S. said it struck Iranian military facilities there.
Another 51 paramedics and medical workers have been wounded since the latest round of Israel-Hezbollah fighting began on March 2.
The latest strike on Friday night in the southern village of Burj Qalaouiyah hit a health care center, killing 12 people and seriously wounding one. A search is ongoing for four people who are still under the rubble, the ministry said.
The ministry said that Israel has been intentionally targeting medical workers, adding that claims by Israel’s military spokesman that ambulances are being used for military purposes are pretexts to justify the attacks.
Earlier Saturday, the Israeli military Arabic spokesman said Hezbollah is widely using ambulances for military purposes. He said the militant group should stop or the Israeli military will act.
Nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones were fired Saturday toward the United Arab Emirates, the Defense Ministry said.
It said the total number of projectiles fired at the country since Feb. 28 included 1,600 drones, 294 ballistic missiles and 15 cruise missiles. The attacks have killed six people and wounded 141 others, it said.
In a post on X Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said that by providing drone support to Israel, Ukraine has “effectively become involved in the war.” He said the entire country became a target for Iran.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the damaged structures included 36,469 residential units and 6,179 commercial facilities, according to state-run IRNA news agency.
Iran hasn’t provided any information about military losses and damage.
Mohajerani, meanwhile, said the war has taken a heavy toll on women, with 223 women and girls killed and 2,129 others wounded since Feb. 28. She didn’t provide an overall death toll, but previously authorities have said that 1,230 people have been killed.
The fire near Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates broke out Saturday following the drone interception, authorities said.
No casualties were reported from the attack, the Fujairah media office said, adding that firefighters were battling the blaze.
Associated Press footage showed smoke rising Saturday morning over the facility.
The sites include museums and historic monuments across Iran, authorities said Saturday.
The Cultural Heritage Ministry said the latest strikes in the city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province seriously damaged the Asef Mansion, Salar Saeid Mansion and Khosro Abad Mansion, according to Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.
Some of the sites date back several centuries and are dedicated to Kurdish culture.
President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that he spoke with the president, prime minister and parliament speaker of Lebanon, and that everything must be done to prevent the country from sinking into chaos.
Macron added that Hezbollah must immediately halt “its reckless escalation” while Israel must abandon any large-scale offensive and stop its massive airstrikes.
Macron said Lebanese leaders have said they are willing to have direct talks with Israel.
The French leader said Israel must seize this opportunity to launch talks to reach a ceasefire, find a lasting solution, and allow Lebanese authorities to fulfill their commitments in support of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said Friday that he expressed readiness to negotiate with Israel but got no response. Lebanon and Israel remain at a state of war since 1948.
“Export and import operations, as well as the activities of companies based on the island, are currently ongoing,” Ehsan Jahaniyan, deputy governor of Bushehr province, was quoted as saying by NourNews, an outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Kharg Island is home to the primary terminal that handles the country’s oil exports.
Jahaniyan also said that daily life activities were normal, adding that the strikes left no casualties.
Early Saturday, semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the U.S. strikes were limited to military facilities.
A cloud of orange-tinted, thick dust spread across the Gaza Strip on Saturday as first responders told Palestinians to stay home, especially those with respiratory illness.
People were also urged to secure their tents to prevent them from being blown away. Israel’s war with Hamas has left most of Gaza’s 2 million residents displaced, living in tents and damaged buildings with little protection from the elements such as rain, wind and sand.
Videos on Saturday showed tents flapping and trees swaying as cars drove down dust-filled streets with little visibility. While dust storms occur in Gaza, there hasn’t been one this intense in more than five years.
Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said Iran fired 10 drones and three missiles on Saturday.
That has brought the total number of missiles and drones fired at Bahrain during the two-week war to 124 and 203, respectively.
Iran’s military command threatened Saturday to attack cities in the United Arab Emirates, claiming they were used by U.S. forces to launch strikes on Iran’s Abu Musa and Kharg islands.
According to Iran’s state television, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said, without providing evidence, that U.S. forces launched attacks on the Islamic Republic from “ports, docks and hideouts within” cities in the Emirates.
It called on people to evacuate “ports, docks and locations where U.S. forces are sheltered in UAE cities.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the airstrike hit an apartment in the southern city of Sidon. It gave no other details.
The United Arab Emirates has detained 10 foreigners who allegedly posted footage on social media of missile and drone attacks on the county.
UAE General Prosecutor Hamad Al Shamsi ordered them to remain in detention over accusations of spreading disinformation, some of which included AI-generated videos of purported attacks on UAE landmarks.
He said in a statement that their acts are punishable by imprisonment of at least a year and a fine of at least 100,000 dirhams ($27,230).
The airstrike destroyed a residential building early Saturday in the western city of Eyvan, the judiciary’s official news agency Mizan reported, citing local authorities. The dead included a 6-month-old, it said.
At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the war began Feb. 28, according to Iranian authorities.
Trump wrote in a social media post: “The Fake News Media hates to report how well the United States Military has done against Iran, which is totally defeated and wants a deal - But not a deal that I would accept!”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli strikes Saturday morning on Beirut and the country’s south.
The Palestinian militant group also urged regional countries to “cooperate and stop” the U.S. and Israeli assault on Iran.
“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 upon the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighboring countries,” Hamas said in a statement Saturday, its first since the war began on Feb. 28.
The group, which maintains close ties with Iran and Qatar, said stopping the war is in the interest of the region.
Hamas is part of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Iranian-backed militant groups in the Middle East.
An airstrike hit a house in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, early Saturday, killing at least one person, according to a security official and another affiliated with the Iranian-backed armed groups in the country.
The strike in Baghdad’s Karrada district also wounded two people, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the press.
In a statement, the Iraqi military condemned the strike as “a blatant violation of all humanitarian values and a disregard for international conventions.”
The strike happened before a missile attack hit the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported at least 15 explosions with thick smoke rising over Kharg Island, earlier hit by U.S. strikes.
It said the strikes targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower, and an offshore oil company’s helicopter hangar, adding no oil infrastructure was damaged in the attack.
Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked oil and energy facilities in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure were hit.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters made the threat early Saturday, according to Iran’s state-run television.
He warned that Iran will target “all oil, economic, and energy infrastructures belonging to oil companies across the region that have American shares or cooperate with America” if energy and economic infrastructure in Iran is attacked.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after a strike hit it’s compound in the Iraqi capital.
On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”
The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones in the past by Iran-aligned militias.
The groups have recently stepped up attacks on bases hosting U.S. and coalition troops.
A drone strike in northern Iraq on Thursday killed a French soldier and wounded several others stationed there as part of an international coalition.
A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, two security officials said.
The projectile landed within the embassy’s boundaries after the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses Iraqi government institutions and foreign embassies, added the security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak with the press.
Video obtained by The Associated Press showed smoke billowing from inside the compound.
— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
