War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says they targeted “three locations of separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdish region, Reports Al-Jazeera.

“If separatist groups in the region make any move against Iran’s territorial integrity, we will crush them,” the IRGC statement carried by the Tasnim news agency said.

Israeli and US attacks on a central Iranian province have killed at least eight people today, a provincial official says according to AFP.

“Eight citizens, including a woman, were martyred in these terrorist attacks,” said Akbar Salehi, a security official at the governor’s office in Isfahan province.

AFP could not independently verify the toll.

“American and Zionist regime fighter jets attacked areas of Isfahan city and seven other cities in the province,” Salehi said, according to the Tasnim news agency. He added that “80 houses were severely damaged” in the city of Isfahan as well as the Lenjan and Borkhar areas.

Loud explosions have struck the Iranian capital, state TV reports according to AFP.

The blasts were heard in several parts of Tehran, state TV said without specifying which areas were hit.

The Saudi defence ministry said a drone “heading towards the Shaybah field” was destroyed by the country’s armed forces.

Foreign ministers of the Arab League will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss “Iranian attacks on the territories of several Arab countries”, the bloc’s assistant secretary-general told AFP.

The meeting, which will be held via videoconference, was requested by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Egypt, Hossam Zaki said.

Israel’s military claims that more than 80 fighter jets completed a wave of strikes on Iranian military sites, missile launchers and other targets in Tehran and central Iran, AFP reports,

“Over 80 Israeli Air Force fighter jets… completed an additional wave of strikes targeting infrastructure belonging to Iran,” the military said in a statement.

UAE’s defence ministry says air defences are “responding” to incoming missile and drones from Iran, reports Al Jazeera.

Qatar Airways is commencing a “series of limited relief flights from Doha”, said flight-tracking service Flightradar.

Iran’s army said its navy had launched a wave of drone attacks targeting Israel as well as US bases in the UAE and Kuwait, as the regional war raged into its second week, AFP reports.

“The Iranian Navy targeted American bases and occupied territories with a massive wave of drone attacks,” the army said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

It said the targets included the UAE’s Al Minhad base and another in Kuwait, as well as a “strategic facility” in Israel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were waiting for US forces to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway where traffic remains strangled as the regional war rages, AFP reports.

“We are waiting for their presence,” said Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini, after the US energy secretary announced the Navy was preparing to escort ships through the strait “as soon as it’s reasonable to do it”.

“We recommend that before making any decision, the Americans remember the fire of the American supertanker Bridgeton in 1987 and the oil tankers that were recently targeted,” Naini said, according to Fars news agency.

An explosion was heard over Dubai airport followed by a cloud of smoke in the air, a witness told AFP.

Dubai Media Office described “a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception”, but dismissed unspecified social media reports about the airport in a post on X.

US crude futures climbed 12per cent on Friday due to disruptions to global oil supplies because of the expanding US-Israeli war with Iran.

Brent crude futures settled at $92.69 a barrel, up $7.28, or 8.52pc. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) finished at $90.90 a barrel, up $9.89, or 12.21pc.

In one week, WTI rose 35.63pc and Brent climbed 27pc, the biggest weekly gains since the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020.

For the second consecutive day, US crude futures rose more than Brent futures as refiners worldwide scrambled to buy alternative crude to plug the gap left by the disruption to Middle East supplies.

“Refiners and trading houses are searching for alternative barrels, and the US is the largest producer,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst with UBS.

Several factors contributed to the divergence in gains between WTI and Brent on Friday, said Janiv Shah, vice president of oil analytics at Rystad Energy.

High levels of refinery production due to favorable margins and strong arbs to Europe accounted for the split between the two contracts, Shah said.

The Saudi defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles “launched towards Prince Sultan Air Base”.

An AFP journalist heard an explosion in Jerusalem on Saturday, after air raid sirens warned of an incoming Iranian missile attack.

The Israeli military said earlier that air defences were “operating to intercept the threat”, before giving the all-clear.

AFP journalists heard explosions in Dubai and Bahrain’s capital Manama on Saturday, one week into Iran’s retaliatory attacks on targets around the Gulf.

Two blasts were heard in Dubai and one in Manama, where a warning siren sounded.

“Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” Bahrain’s interior ministry posted on X.

The US military said it struck “over 3,000” targets in Iran during the first week of the war.

Lebanese official media reported that clashes had erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanon-Syria border, with Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has launched numerous strikes and sent ground troops into Lebanon since Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday to avenge the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said that “clashes are taking place on the eastern mountain range along the Lebanese-Syrian border… to repel Israeli landing attempts.”

It gave the location as Nabi Sheet, in the eastern Baalbek district where Hezbollah holds sway.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters had “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.

After landing, advancing troops “were engaged by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they reached the Nabi Sheet cemetery, Hezbollah said, noting the use of light and medium weapons.

“The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed,” it added, saying the Israeli troops launched intense strikes and began to evacuate.

A separate statement said Hezbollah fighters had fired rockets as the Israeli forces withdrew.

Footage shared on social media showed waves of gunfire in the air.

Nabi Sheet was the target of at least 13 Israeli air strikes on Friday, according to the NNA, with the Lebanese health ministry reporting at least nine people killed.

Al Jazeera is reporting that a missile has been intercepted in the airspace above the Jordanian city of Aqaba.

The city is located opposite to Eilat in Southern Israel.