Tehran (AFP) – Gulf countries and Israel came under missile fire and Israeli forces struck Iran on Saturday, as the war raged into its second month with Washington expressing hopes for progress in talks with Tehran. In a sign that the conflict may be expanding further, Israel’s military said air defenses responded to a missile launched from Yemen — the first since the start of the war on February 28, and after threats from Iran’s Houthi allies to launch attacks.
The war began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sending shockwaves across the globe. A month later, the conflict showed no sign of ending, with Israel announcing fresh strikes on Tehran and an AFP journalist in the city reporting around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke. Emirati authorities said debris from a successful missile interception started fires at an Abu Dhabi industrial zone, injuring five Indian nationals.
Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a missile and several drones, and Bahrain said a blaze caused by the “Iranian aggression” had been brought under control. In Israel, repeated air raid sirens sent people to shelters, including in Tel Aviv, where one man was killed and two others wounded. In the country’s north, media reported a simultaneous attack from Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. An Iranian missile and drone attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least 12 American soldiers, two of them seriously, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified officials.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday he believes Iran would hold talks with Washington “this week, we’re certainly hopeful for it”. Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he told a business forum in Miami. “It could solve it all.” One major issue has been the near-closure of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, which has sent markets into turmoil and pushed oil prices to levels not seen since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Trump reiterated his disappointment with NATO allies over their refusal to help secure the Strait of Hormuz after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had won G7 support to oppose Iran’s attempts to impose a toll on the key sea lane for Gulf oil and gas exports. “It’s unacceptable, it’s dangerous to the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it,” said Rubio, who joined a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in France. Thailand on Saturday joined a handful of nations that have announced they were able to secure safe passage for their oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in an agreement with Iran.
The G7 ministers expressed the “absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation” in the waterway and called for “an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure”. Rubio declared that Washington expects its military campaign to prove victorious within weeks. “When we are done with them here in the next couple of weeks, they will be weaker than they’ve been in recent history,” he told reporters. Iran had sent “messages” to the American side but had not formally responded to the 15-point plan, Rubio said.
While Trump has extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on energy assets to April 6, Iranian media reported strikes on Friday on three Iranian nuclear facilities and two steel plants, with officials saying there was no radioactive release. Israel confirmed it had struck the Khondab heavy water complex and a uranium processing plant in Ardakan, while the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had informed it of another strike on the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened retaliation “for Israeli crimes” in a post on X, saying the attacks contradicted Trump’s “extended deadline for diplomacy”. Israel’s military reported at least five rounds of Iranian missile fire within just over five hours, and a statement early Saturday said Israeli forces were “striking Iranian terror regime targets across Tehran”.
Trump, swinging between threats of obliteration and optimistic talk of dealmaking, has insisted the Islamic Republic wants to “make a deal”. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would strike industrial sites across the region, having earlier issued similar warnings for US military bases and hotels hosting American troops. Iranian strikes have shattered the Gulf’s reputation for stability, hitting Dubai’s airport, Bahrain’s capital, and energy facilities across the region during the course of the war.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which did not immediately comment on the missile fire reported by Israel, had warned on Friday they would join the war if US-Israeli attacks on ally Iran continued or if more countries joined the conflict. The Houthis have in the past attacked shipping in the Red Sea in response to regional conflicts, but had so far not intervened in the latest war. “We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention,” the group said in a statement.
Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on aligned regional groups — a reference to Hezbollah, among others, Tasnim reported. Lebanon was drawn into the war after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. Israel renewed strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Friday, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. The UN refugee agency warned Lebanon faced a deepening humanitarian crisis risking catastrophe, with over a million people displaced. AFPTV footage showed smoke rising from the Beirut suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold largely emptied after previous Israeli evacuation warnings and heavy strikes.
© 2024 AFP
