Tehran (AFP) – President Donald Trump threatened to escalate the bombing of Iran on Saturday as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that he would never surrender, despite a fresh blitz of US and Israeli air strikes that set a Tehran airport ablaze. Israel confirmed some of the biggest raids since the aerial bombardment of Iran began last Saturday, with a military academy, an underground command centre, and a missile storage facility named as targets. Pre-dawn AFP photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, one of two that serve the capital.
“Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform. “Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.” Iranian President Pezeshkian struck a defiant tone in a speech broadcast on state TV in which he appeared to address Trump’s demand on Friday for “unconditional surrender.” Iran’s enemies “must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves,” Pezeshkian replied.
Iran also hit back on Saturday, demonstrating that it retains the ability to launch missiles and drones despite the relentless targeting of its military infrastructure over the last seven days. There were air raid alerts and explosions heard above Jerusalem as well as Gulf cities Dubai, Manama, and near Riyadh — where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base housing US military personnel. The UAE said it had intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones on Saturday, but video footage showed one projectile crashing into Dubai airport, the world’s busiest for international traffic in usual circumstances. An explosion took place next to an airport building and parked planes close to a passing train, mobile phone footage authenticated by AFP showed.
Jordan also accused Iran of “targeting vital installations” inside the country with 119 missiles and drones over the last week, according to military spokesman Mustafa Hayari. Pezeshkian issued an apology to his Gulf neighbours, which host major US military bases, saying that they would only be targeted if their territories were used as launch sites for attacks. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said they had fired at the oil tanker Prima in the Gulf as it attempted to cross the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global shipping that Iran has effectively closed.
Now entering its second week, the war was sparked by joint Israeli and US airstrikes last Saturday that killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The conflict has since widened to war-battered Lebanon, as well as Cyprus in the EU, Turkey, and Azerbaijan — and reached as far as waters off Sri Lanka where US forces sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo. Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential buildings is mounting, while residents of the capital report growing anxiety and a heavy presence of security forces on the streets. “I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced war would understand it,” a terrified 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity. “When you hear the bombs, you have no idea where they will hit.” The Iranian health ministry put the civilian death toll at 926 on Friday, with around 6,000 injured — numbers that AFP could not independently verify.
Israel has also intensified its air strikes on Lebanon, repeatedly bombing and ordering the evacuation of Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah holds sway. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Saturday warned Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that his country would pay a “very heavy price” if it failed to disarm Hezbollah. Israeli commandos also launched an unsuccessful mission overnight to try to retrieve the remains of a navigator lost in 1986. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 217 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes over the last week, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned a “humanitarian disaster is looming.”
The consequences of the conflict reach far beyond those in the immediate firing line, however. Global stock markets have slumped, while crude oil prices have surged, with analysts warning that there appears to be no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials have suggested could last a month or more. Trump, who has given varying reasons for starting the war, has spurned fresh talks with Tehran, and said on Truth Social on Friday that “there will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
Trump has also promised to help rebuild the country’s economy if Tehran installs someone “acceptable” to him to replace Iran’s late supreme leader. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States would have no role in selecting Khamenei’s successor. “The selection of Iran’s leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference,” he added.
Though Iranian retaliation has been inflicted widely across the Middle East, US rivals China and Russia have stayed largely out of the fray despite their ties to the Islamic Republic. Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced support for an “immediate” ceasefire during a phone call with Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday, the Kremlin said. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States is “not concerned” about reports that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran on US troop positions and movements. The war has killed six US service members, and Trump is to attend the return of their bodies at a transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday.
© 2024 AFP
