Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Sunday:
– **Fuel depots hit**
Fuel distribution in the Iranian capital has been temporarily halted after US-Israeli strikes on depots, an official said. Huge fires burned after the strikes on five facilities in and around Tehran, casting a dark haze across the city as morning broke, AFP journalists said.
– **Khamenei successor**
Iran’s clerical body tasked with choosing the country’s next supreme leader has agreed on a candidate, but the name is yet to be announced, members said. Iranian officials have rejected US President Donald Trump’s demand that he have a say in selecting a successor. Israel’s military vowed to target “any successor and anyone seeking to appoint one.”
– **Israel pounds Lebanon**
Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a Beirut hotel killed four people. The Israeli military said it carried out a “precise strike” in Beirut targeting commanders from the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force. In southern Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, the health ministry said eight people were killed in strikes on more than 20 towns and villages.
– **Blasts across Iran**
Explosions hit Iran’s central Yazd province on Sunday, state media said. It was not immediately clear what was struck, but the official IRNA news agency said the blasts occurred on the periphery of Yazd city. Earlier explosions were reported in other parts of the country including the Iranian capital Tehran and the central Isfahan province.
– **Missing crew**
Three Indonesian crew members are missing after a UAE-flagged tugboat was hit by a blast and sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, Jakarta’s foreign ministry said. Of the ship’s seven crew members, one survivor was receiving burn treatment in Oman, and search missions continue for the missing three. There have been numerous attacks on ships navigating one of the world’s most important maritime routes, where traffic has remained strangled since the war broke out.
– **Attacks on Gulf states**
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain all reported new attacks. In Kuwait, two border guards were killed while on duty, the interior ministry said. The military said fuel tanks at the country’s international airport were targeted in a drone attack. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry reported intercepting 15 drones, including an attempted attack in the diplomatic quarter of the capital Riyadh. Bahrain said three people were wounded by falling missile debris and that a water desalination plant was damaged.
– **IRGC: we can fight six months**
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the country’s forces can fight an “intense war” for six months, with a spokesman saying more advanced missiles would be used in the coming days.
– **Iran ‘forced’ to respond**
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country “will be forced to respond” to any attack or invasion attempt from a neighboring country. “Responding does not mean we have disputes with that country or wish to harm its people — we would be responding out of necessity,” he said in remarks broadcast on state TV. A day earlier, Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring countries hosting US military bases for attacks on their territory.
– **Trump blames Iran for school strike**
US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for a deadly strike on an Iranian primary school that Iranian officials say killed at least 150 people. “We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. A New York Times investigation has found the US military was most likely responsible. AFP has not been able to access the site to verify the circumstances surrounding the incident or to independently confirm the toll.
– **Crew discharged from hospital**
A Sri Lanka hospital discharged 22 Iranian crew members who survived the sinking of their warship by a US submarine, with another 10 still receiving treatment. Sri Lanka recovered 84 bodies from where the ship went down after it was struck in international waters on Wednesday, and more than 60 people from it remain missing. A second Iranian warship took refuge in Sri Lanka’s waters after the sub attack.
© 2024 AFP
