Israel on Sunday struck southern Lebanon, Beirut and oil storage facilities in Tehran as the war in the Middle East keeps escalating, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the conflict.
Iran also hit a desalination plant in Bahrain. Earlier Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a U.S. airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island, warning that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.” Such infrastructure is critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf.
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An Israeli attack on oil storage sites in Tehran sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the Saturday night sky. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
The war, which erupted on Feb. 28 after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iran, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic, more than 300 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials.
Here is the latest:
Iran’s parliament speaker says oil prices will surge more as the war continues
Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday oil prices will continue to soar, inflicting pain on the global economy as long as the war in the Middle East goes on.
Oil prices have soared since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, reaching its highest levels since 2023.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude jumped 8.5% to $92.69 on Friday — up from nearly $70 a barrel just late last week. Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. crude climbed 12.2%, to $90.90 a barrel on Friday.
“If the war continues like this, there will be neither a way to sell oil nor the ability to produce it,” Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a social media post. He said the war is not only impacting the U.S., but also the Middle East and the whole world “due to Netanyahu’s delusions,” referring to the Israeli prime minister.
Iran says 200 children and 200 women among the war dead
U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have killed 200 children and around 200 women, the Iranian Health Ministry said Sunday.
They are among more than 1,200 people killed in the war, spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a social media post.
He said more than 1,000 others, including about 400 women, have been injured since Feb. 28.
Iran’s president threatens more attacks on US targets
Iran’s president has threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel press ahead with their air campaign.
“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.”
Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. Those comments, in which he appeared to apologize for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.
Pezeshkian said Iran is not looking for a battle against neighboring Arab countries, many of which host American military bases. “They are our brothers,” he said, accusing the U.S. of trying to pit the region’s countries against one another. Many Iranian attacks have gone beyond U.S. bases in the region, striking energy facilities, hotels and cities.
Tehran is shrouded in smoke after strikes hit oil depots
The sky over Iran’s capital was blanketed with smoke Sunday morning, hours after Israeli strikes hit oil facilities in Tehran, Associated Press footage showed.
Fars news agency reported that Saturday’s strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz. Four tanker drivers in the center were killed, it reported.
The strikes sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in AP video as a glow against the Saturday night sky.
It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
Missile alert sounds in Dubai
A missile alert sounded Sunday morning in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Bahrain says Iranian drone attack has caused ‘material damage’ to desalination plant
It is the first time an Arab country says Iran has targeted a desalination plant during the nine-day war.
Hundreds of desalination plants sit along the Persian Gulf coast, and the Arab countries in the region rely heavily on the facilities for their drinking water
Israel targets Iran’s F-14 fighter jets
Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had struck a series of fighter jets that pre-revolutionary Iran purchased from the United States.
The fleet of F-14s parked at Isfahan Airport, south of Tehran, was a pillar of the Iranian air force and historically used to defend its airspace.
The Israeli military did not say whether the jets were destroyed. It also said it had struck detection and air defense systems.
An Iranian drone damages a water desalination plant in Bahrain
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry provided the information.
3 wounded in Bahrain from shrapnel following a missile attack
The shrapnel fell over a university building in Muharraq city in Bahrain Sunday morning, authorities said.
The Interior Ministry said fragments of a missile also caused material damage.