Dubai (AFP) – Hostilities in the Middle East intensified on Saturday after a seventh straight night of US attacks on Iran, with Tehran threatening a “full-scale offensive” in response and the strategic Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed.
Here are the latest developments:
– **Bahrain ‘thwarted’ Iranian attacks** – Bahrain’s army said its “air defence systems thwarted” a wave of Iranian attacks on Saturday, as an AFP journalist in Manama reported hearing blasts after sirens sounded.
– **Iran hits Kuwait power, water plant** – Kuwait said Iran struck another of its power and water plants, leading to the deactivation of several power generation units, a day after a similar attack.
– **Seventh night of US strikes on Iran** – US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that it “hit surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities” as American forces concluded strikes on Iran for the seventh consecutive night.
– **Tankers ‘hit mines’** – Two oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz struck mines, according to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards — an assertion denied by the US military. The Guards said the tankers that hit mines were directed by “deceptive American intelligence agencies” and had caught fire. CENTCOM issued a brief denial. The Guards said separately that they had “stopped” four ships attempting to transit the strategic passage.
– **Gulf countries hit** – Iran’s army said it struck US military targets in Kuwait and Jordan in response to American attacks. The targets in Kuwait were tied to the Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al-Salem base. The targets in Jordan were fuel tanks at the Al-Azraq base.
– **Kuwait, Jordan respond** – Kuwait’s army wrote on X on Saturday that explosions might be heard as a result of “air defence systems intercepting hostile targets.” Jordan’s army said it had shot down 10 Iranian missiles with no casualties or damage.
– **Bahrain base targeted** – The Iranian army said it targeted an air base in Bahrain used by the United States, according to state television. Air raid sirens were sounded in Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base, according to the country’s interior ministry. Bahrain and Qatar earlier said they had intercepted missiles.
– **Casualties reported** – Iranian state-controlled IRNA news agency said on Saturday that US strikes had killed three people and wounded eight in Hormozgan, a province in the country’s south.
– **Blasts in central Iran** – Five explosions were heard in the central Iranian city of Yazd shortly after US strikes were announced, according to the IRNA state news agency. Mehr, another state-controlled agency, reported explosions “in several provinces in the south” of the country.
– **’Full-scale offensive’** – Tehran threatened to resume “full-scale offensive operations” if US strikes continue over the coming days, Major General Mohsen Rezaei said, according to state-controlled news agency IRIB. “Iran will no longer limit itself to retaliatory, like-for-like responses…and no political border will be safe,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
