Iran’s Foreign Minister Calls on Neighbors to Expel US Forces; US Embassy in Baghdad attacked, attacks hit Iran-backed fighters
Smoke rises from an energy facility in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah. Photo: AFP
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/BAGHDAD:
US President Donald Trump urged other nations to help secure a vital sea route blocked by the war with Iran, which showed no signs of slowing on Saturday as attacks hit the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirates energy facility, as Iran threatened to reduce US-linked oil facilities to “a pile of ashes” as the two-week war in the Middle East spilled over into a global oil price crisis.
Oil prices have risen 40 percent as Iran has choked off the vital Strait of Hormuz and attacked Gulf energy facilities.
Clouds of black smoke rose on Saturday over Fujairah, home to a major Emirati oil storage and export terminal, AFP journalists found, shortly after the Iranian military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.
Washington’s embassy in Iraq was attacked by a drone, security sources told AFP, the second time it has been targeted in the war, and the Emirates consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan was also attacked for the second time in a week.
Five U.S. Air Force aerial refueling planes were damaged during an Iranian missile attack on a key military facility in Saudi Arabia, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incident.
The plane was hit while parked at Prince Sultan Air Base, a major facility that houses U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia. Officials said the attack occurred during a wave of Iranian missile launches against US military assets across the region in recent days.
Having previously promised that the US Navy would “very soon” begin escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump appeared to call for reinforcements on Saturday.
“Many countries… will send warships, along with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” he wrote in Truth Social, saying China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom would “hopefully” be among them.
US forces attacked Kharg Island on Friday, from which almost all of Iran’s oil is exported, and Trump said they had “destroyed all MILITARY targets”, while sparing its energy facilities.
The attack on Kharg could be a turning point as both sides escalate the conflict in an attempt to force a surrender, Johns Hopkins University analyst Vali Nasr said on social media.
“The end will probably not be Iran backing down but rather inflaming the Gulf.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the attacks showed the war was entering a “decisive phase”, although he warned it would “continue as long as necessary”.
However, despite facing superior firepower from the United States and Israel, Iran seemed determined to keep fighting.
AFP journalists heard explosions in Jerusalem after the army detected missiles launched from Iran on Saturday.
Qatar evacuated the city center and intercepted two missiles, whose explosions were heard by AFP journalists.
Hamas urged Iran to refrain from attacking its Gulf neighbors, many of whom have supported its cause. It was a rare break between the allies, although Hamas asserted Tehran’s right to defend itself.
Iran continued to face intense shelling and local media reported attacks in several provinces through Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military warned the population of an industrial area in Tabriz, northern Iran, to evacuate, signaling an imminent attack.
Iran’s Health Ministry says more than 1,200 people have been killed by US and Israeli attacks, figures that could not be independently verified, while up to 3.2 million people have been displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.
Trump described Iran as “totally defeated” and seeking a deal he was unwilling to consider.
More than 15,000 targets in Iran have been struck by the United States and Israel, the Pentagon said. A report this week said the first six days alone cost the US $11.3 billion, while 13 service members have died in the war.
Transition
US media raised the possibility of US troops in Iran, with the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reporting that the Pentagon had sent the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the region along with about 2,500 Marines.
In Iran, the country’s rulers seemed determined to show that they would survive the war and maintain control, even though their supreme leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated on the opening day.
Iranian Foreign Minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mocked the United States on Saturday, claiming it was now “begging others” to make the Strait of Hormuz safe again.
In a post on
Similarly, Alireza Tangsiri, naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said: “The Americans falsely claimed to have destroyed Iran’s navy. Then they falsely claimed that they were escorting oil tankers. Now they are asking for reinforcements from others. Of course, we remember that the Strait of Hormuz has not yet been militarily closed; it is simply being controlled.”
Araghchi also separately said that the US strikes on Kharg Island on Friday made it “very clear that they are using our neighbors’ territory to attack us with these types of rockets, and this is absolutely unacceptable.”
He said the attacks were tracked by Iranian forces. “It is now clear that they are fired from the United Arab Emirates, from two places in the United Arab Emirates, from Ras Al Khaimah and from a place very close to the city of Dubai. And it is very dangerous that they use densely populated areas to launch rockets at us,” Araghchi added.
Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian promised to rebuild everything destroyed in the Israeli and US airstrikes even better than before as the conflict in the Middle East continues.
In a post on
The comments came after US President Donald Trump said warships from the US military and other countries were en route to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remained “open and safe” for traffic.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday called on neighboring countries to expel US forces from the Middle East.
The US security umbrella in the region “has proven to be full of holes and invites problems rather than deterring them,” the top diplomat posted in X, adding that Iran called on its neighbors to “expel foreign aggressors.”
Iran will attack American companies in the region if its energy facilities are attacked in the US-Israel war against the Islamic Republic, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.
“Our Armed Forces have already responded that they will retaliate if our oil and energy infrastructure is attacked,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told MS NOW.
Iran “will attack any energy infrastructure in the region that belongs to a US company or that a US company is a shareholder in,” he added.
The US embassy in Baghdad was attacked on Saturday following attacks that killed three members of a powerful Iran-backed group in the capital, security sources said.
Iraq, long a battleground between the United States and Iran, was quickly drawn into the Middle East war sparked by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
A cloud of black smoke rose over the US diplomatic mission shortly after the noise of the explosions on Saturday morning, an AFP journalist said.
Two security officials told AFP that the embassy complex was attacked by a drone.
The US embassy did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on the incident.
It is the second time that the US embassy has been attacked in Baghdad since the start of the war.
