Israel on Sunday struck southern Lebanon, Beirut and oil storage facilities in Tehran as the war in the Middle East keeps escalating, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the conflict.
Iran also hit a desalination plant in Bahrain. Earlier Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a U.S. airstrike damaged an Iranian desalination plant on Qeshm Island, warning that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.” Such infrastructure is critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf.
An Israeli attack on oil storage sites in Tehran sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in Associated Press video as a glow against the Saturday night sky. It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
The war, which erupted on Feb. 28 after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iran, has so far killed at least 1,230 people in the Islamic Republic, more than 300 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials.
Here is the latest:
UK will not outsource foreign policy, foreign secretary says
Britain’s top diplomat said the U.K. government will not outsource its foreign policy following further criticism over the country’s position on the Iran war from President Donald Trump.
Yvette Cooper told BBC News that it was important to “learn the lessons” from the Iraq war in 2003 and its aftermath, when British forces fought alongside their U.S. counterparts.
She said “it is our job as the U.K. government to decide what’s in the U.K. national interest, and that doesn’t mean simply agreeing with other countries or outsourcing our foreign policy to other countries.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer opted against granting the U.S. military permission to use British bases for the first wave of military action, but then said the U.K. would engage in defensive operations after Iran attacked countries throughout the Middle East.
On hearing that the U.K. was reducing the time it would take one of its two aircraft carriers, the HMS Prince of Wales, to set sail for any deployment, Trump said “we don’t need them any longer.”
Iran soccer team exits Women’s Asian Cup and faces the prospect of a return home
Iran’s soccer team lost its last group match at the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday and had to contemplate returning home to a country embroiled in war.
The Iranian women’s squad arrived in Australia for the continental championship last month, before the war that began with the U.S. and Israel Feb. 28 strikes on Iran. Teams ousted during the group stage usually depart within days.
Their silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. But the players sang the anthem and saluted during the national anthem ahead of their 4-0 loss to Australia last Thursday and a 2-0 loss to Philippines on Sunday.
Amid concerns for player welfare following reported criticism in the Iranian media, the Australian Iranian Council wrote to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke urging the government to protect the squad members while they’re in Australia.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vows to step up missile and drone attacks
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Sunday vowed to step up attacks against Israel and the U.S. assets in the Middle East as Israel continue to bound Iran with devastating strikes, the Iranian state-run news agency reported.
The guard said “the scale and depth” of its missile and drone attacks will increase following what it called “the brutality” of U.S. and Israeli strikes, according to IRNA news agency.
Bangladesh faces fuel crisis amid tensions in Middle East
Car owners and drivers in Bangladesh waited for hours in long queues on Sunday to collect fuel for their vehicles amid fear that the ongoing war in the Middle East involving Iran would create a serious fuel crisis.
Many even waited overnight in many fuel stations in Dhaka, the capital, to get fuel under a government rationing system allowing cars and bikes to collect a limited amount of fuel. Others have even resorted to panic-buying as fuel pump owners say they were under severe pressure for higher demand.
Bangladesh imports roughly 95% of its fuel oil and 70% of its gas, predominantly from the Middle East. Authorities say five of the country’s six fertilizer factories have been closed until March 18 because of the gas crisis.
The government said Sunday six vessels carrying liquefied natural gas, furnace oil, liquefied petroleum gas and condensate have already arrived at the country’s main Chattogram seaport from the Middle East and East Asian countries to ease the crisis. Separately, another five vessels, carrying LNG, LPG and diesel, are en route to Bangladesh.
Pope appeals for peace as Vatican rejects ‘preventive war’
Pope Leo XIV called Sunday for an end to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and the opening of dialogue, warning that the conflict was spreading throughout the Middle East and sowing “a climate of hatred and fear.”
For the second Sunday in a row, Leo expressed his “profound consternation” about the war and how it was destabilizing Lebanon, a bulwark for Christians in the predominantly Muslim region.
During his traditional noontime prayer, the American pope prayed for an end to the bombs and the opening of dialogue “to hear the voice of the people.”
The Holy See has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality but has nevertheless rejected the Trump administration’s justification of attacking Iran preventively.
“If states were to be recognized as having a right to ‘preventive war,’ according to their own criteria and without a supranational legal framework, the whole world would risk being set ablaze,” the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told Vatican Media this week.
Parolin demanded instead for a respect of international law and multilateral diplomacy.
UAE intercepts most of the missiles and drones fired by Iran
The UAE’s Defense Ministry says it intercepted all 16 missiles, while a 17th fell into the sea. It says it intercepted most of the drones, but four fell in UAE territory.
The ministry says it is ready to “firmly confront” the threats.
Iran’s president earlier Sunday threatened to increase attacks on U.S. targets across the region in the face of ongoing Israeli and U.S. strikes. The Emirati statement did not specify the locations of Sunday’s attacks.
Macron will visit Cyprus in a show of solidarity after attacks on air base
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Cyprus on Monday to show France’s solidarity with the European Union nation targeted by drones last week.
Macron will meet there with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Greece Prime Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron’s office said Sunday. “Together with our European partners, the aim will be to strengthen security around Cyprus and in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the statement said.
The visit will also help coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of European nationals in the region and support repatriation operations, it said.
Cypriot and British officials haven’t said where the Shahed drone that hit the Royal Air Force base in Akrotiri came from, but speculation is that it was the work of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Warplanes intercepted a pair of drones in a second attempted strike on the U.K. base last Monday.
Iran says attacks have damaged about 10,000 civilian buildings
U.S. and Israel strikes in Iran have damaged about 10,000 civilian structures across the county, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said.
In a social media post, the Red Crescent said the structures include 7,943 residential units and 1,617 commercial units along with several medical and educational facilities.
Iranian Red Crescent warns public about smoke dangers from oil facility fires
The Iranian Red Crescent warned people in Tehran to take extra precautions to avoid toxic amounts of pollutants in the air stemming from a fire that broke out after Israeli struck multiple oil storage depots late Saturday. Heavy, black smoke from the fires blocked out the sun on Sunday morning.
The Red Crescent advised the public to avoid turning on air conditioners or going outside immediately after rainfall due to concerns about toxic acid rain.
The Red Crescent also encouraged people to protect exposed food and to gargle salt water to clean the throat from oily soot particles they may have inhaled. Tehran’s governor recommended everyone wear masks outside.
A second Pakistani national was killed by missile debris in Dubai
A Pakistani driver was killed overnight when debris from an aerial interception fell on a vehicle in Dubai, authorities said Sunday. It’s the second death of a Pakistani national there in recent days.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the deaths of the two Pakistanis in Dubai.
Two other civilians, from Nepal and Bangladesh, have been killed by missile debris in Dubai since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian missile and drone attacks on its Gulf neighbors.
Iran’s parliament speaker says oil prices will surge more as the war continues
Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday oil prices will continue to soar, inflicting pain on the global economy as long as the war in the Middle East goes on.
Oil prices have soared since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, reaching its highest levels since 2023.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude jumped 8.5% to $92.69 on Friday — up from nearly $70 a barrel just late last week. Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. crude climbed 12.2%, to $90.90 a barrel on Friday.
“If the war continues like this, there will be neither a way to sell oil nor the ability to produce it,” Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a social media post. He said the war is not only impacting the U.S., but also the Middle East and the whole world “due to Netanyahu’s delusions,” referring to the Israeli prime minister.
Iran says 200 children and 200 women among the war dead
U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have killed 200 children and around 200 women, the Iranian Health Ministry said Sunday.
They are among more than 1,200 people killed in the war, spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a social media post.
He said more than 1,000 others, including about 400 women, have been injured since Feb. 28.
Iran’s president threatens more attacks on US targets
Iran’s president has threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel press ahead with their air campaign.
“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.”
Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday. Those comments, in which he appeared to apologize for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.
Pezeshkian said Iran is not looking for a battle against neighboring Arab countries, many of which host American military bases. “They are our brothers,” he said, accusing the U.S. of trying to pit the region’s countries against one another. Many Iranian attacks have gone beyond U.S. bases in the region, striking energy facilities, hotels and cities.
Tehran is shrouded in smoke after strikes hit oil depots
The sky over Iran’s capital was blanketed with smoke Sunday morning, hours after Israeli strikes hit oil facilities in Tehran, Associated Press footage showed.
Fars news agency reported that Saturday’s strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz. Four tanker drivers in the center were killed, it reported.
The strikes sent up pillars of fire that could be seen in AP video as a glow against the Saturday night sky.
It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.
Missile alert sounds in Dubai
A missile alert sounded Sunday morning in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Bahrain says Iranian drone attack has caused ‘material damage’ to desalination plant
It is the first time an Arab country says Iran has targeted a desalination plant during the nine-day war.
Hundreds of desalination plants sit along the Persian Gulf coast, and the Arab countries in the region rely heavily on the facilities for their drinking water
Israel targets Iran’s F-14 fighter jets
Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had struck a series of fighter jets that pre-revolutionary Iran purchased from the United States.
The fleet of F-14s parked at Isfahan Airport, south of Tehran, was a pillar of the Iranian air force and historically used to defend its airspace.
The Israeli military did not say whether the jets were destroyed. It also said it had struck detection and air defense systems.
An Iranian drone damages a water desalination plant in Bahrain
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry provided the information.
3 wounded in Bahrain from shrapnel following a missile attack
The shrapnel fell over a university building in Muharraq city in Bahrain Sunday morning, authorities said.
The Interior Ministry said fragments of a missile also caused material damage.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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