Iran threatens to escalate war as Gulf Arab states block new missiles – National
Gulf Arab states reported fresh missile and drone attacks on Sunday after Iran threatened to expand its campaign and called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates as the Middle East war, now in its third week, rages on.
Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28, saying they were striking nuclear and military sites and encouraging Iranians to revolt against their leaders. Iran has responded by attacking Israel and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf.
The war has increased air traffic around the world, disrupted oil exports from the region and sent fuel prices soaring.
US President Donald Trump said he hopes that countries that rely on oil and gas exports will send warships to protect the Strait of Hormuz. No one responded with a firm commitment Sunday, though some said they were considering taking action.
Israel said it continued to strike Iran on Sunday as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE told residents they were working to intercept incoming projectiles, a day after Iran threatened three Emirati ports, the first time it had done so against a neighboring country’s non-US assets.
Iran has previously accused the US of launching Friday’s strikes on Kharg Island from the UAE, without providing evidence for the claim. The UAE and other Gulf countries that host US bases have denied allowing land or airspace to be used against Iran, including the island, home to Iran’s main oil facility.
Iran says the US attacked the UAE
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US attacked the islands of Kharg and Abu Musa in the UAE. He called the escalation dangerous and said Iran would “try to be careful not to attack any populated area” there.
US Central Command said it had no response to Iran’s request.
Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the UAE president, dismissed Iran’s claim that the US used Emirati land or airspace in its attack on Kharg Island.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman during the war. It says it is targeting US assets, as Iranian strikes are also being reported on civilian areas such as airports and oil fields. Although their air defenses have played a major role, the war has caused great damage and destabilized the economies of the Gulf countries.
Araghchi also told London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed on Sunday that Iran is ready to consider any proposal that includes a “complete end” to the war and said mediation efforts are underway between Iran and its neighbors to reverse it.
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He did not reveal whether progress had been made.
Trump urges countries to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz
As global concerns rise over oil and commodity prices, Trump said Saturday he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe.” Those countries are more dependent than the US on oil and gas transit.
“We are looking very closely with our partners at what can be done, because it is very important that we reopen,” UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News, adding that “ending this conflict is the best and surest way to open this road.”
South Korea’s foreign ministry said it would work closely with Washington and review Trump’s proposal.
Araghchi, in a social media post, described Trump’s call as “pleading.” Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack “oil, economic and energy infrastructure” linked to the US if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is attacked.
The war is growing
Since the start of the war, Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf countries, most of them migrant workers.
In Iran, the International Committee for the Red Cross said more than 1,300 people have been killed so far. Iran’s Ministry of Health says 223 women and 202 children were among those killed, according to Mizan, the official news agency of the judiciary.
In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire and others have been injured, including three on Sunday. At least 13 members of the US military have also been killed since the war began; six of them died in a plane crash in Iraq last week.
Meanwhile, at least 820 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Ministry of Health, and 850,000 have been displaced since Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel and Israel responded with strikes and sent more troops into southern Lebanon.
The rain increases the misery in Lebanon
In downtown Beirut, families who left their homes set up tents in the wind and rain on Sunday.
Fadi Younes, who was displaced from a suburb south of Beirut, told The Associated Press that his mattresses and blankets were soaked.
“We don’t know where this will end,” he said, adding that he hopes to return home. “One feels free only in one’s own home.”
In Haret Hreik, one of the southern areas, there was no one to be seen when the workers arrived to clear the debris from the streets.
“The important thing is that the roads remain open for hospitals and people,” said excavator driver Hachem Fadlallah.
In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people – nearly one in seven Lebanese – have been displaced, a year since the last war displaced more than a million Lebanese from their homes.
Israel has been hit by some Iranian missile launches
Iran fired missiles into Israel on Sunday, sending residents scrambling for shelter as sirens sounded and dozens of strikes hit central Israel and the Tel Aviv area.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service, released a video showing a large volcanic crater on the road and debris damage to the building.
Strikes in the Tel Aviv region caused damage to 23 properties and sparked a small fire on Sunday.
The effects of multiple locations have become a hallmark of the war, as Israel’s military says Iran is firing multiple bombs that can evade other air defenses and spread the word in many areas.
–Metz reported from Ramallah, the West Bank, and Frankel from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Sally Abou AlJoud and Fadi Tawil in Beirut, and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report.
