Iran launches new attacks at Israel and Gulf countries as it keeps up pressure on the Middle East
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched new attacks on Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries as it kept up pressure on the Middle East in a war that has impacted the region and beyond, sent oil prices surging and stunned global economies.
Sirens warned of incoming missiles in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia said it destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait’s National Guard said it shot down six drones.
Later in the morning, sirens also sounded in Jerusalem, and sounds of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel’s defense systems worked to intercept incoming fire, not long after the military said it detected an Iranian missile launch.
“We are definitely not looking for a ceasefire,” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, wrote defiantly on X. “We believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again.”
Along with firing missiles and drones at Israel and at American bases in the region, Iran has also been targeting energy infrastructure which, combined with its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, sent oil prices soaring.
Brent crude, the international standard, spiked to nearly $120 on Monday before falling back but was still at around $90 a barrel on Tuesday, nearly 24% higher than when the war started on Feb. 28.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has previously said that the war could last for a month or longer, sought to downplay growing fears that it could take even longer, saying it was “going to be a short-term excursion.”
Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the strikes on Iran would continue.
“Our aim is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny, (but) ultimately it depends on them,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with Israel’s hospital and health system leaders. “There is no doubt that with the actions taken so far, we are breaking their bones.”
Trump sends contradictory messages, Tehran says it’s prepared for a long war
The war has choked off major supplies of oil and gas to world markets and sent fuel prices rising. The fighting has also led foreigners to flee from business hubs and prompted millions to seek shelter as bombs hit military bases, government buildings, oil and water installations, hotels and at least one school.
Iran has effectively stopped tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman — the gateway to the Indian Ocean — through which 20% of the world’s oil is carried. Attacks on merchant ships near the strait have killed at least seven sailors, according to the International Maritime Organization.
In a post on social media, Trump seemed not to acknowledge that, saying that “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
Meanwhile, Amin Nasser, the president and CEO of Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco, said tankers were being rerouted to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, and that its East-West pipeline would reach its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day being brought to the Red Sea port of the Yanbu this week.
“The situation at the Strait of Hormuz is blocking sizable volumes of oil from the whole region,” he said and also hinted at global oil markets being squeezed the longer the Iran war goes on and shipments from the Mideast remain affected.
Tighter supplies would likely push the price per barrel globally even higher, translating to higher costs for gasoline and jet fuel.
“If this takes a long time, that will have serious impact on the global economy,” Nasser said.
Iranian women’s soccer team gets asylum in Australia
Five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who were in Australia for a tournament when the Iran war began were granted asylum, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters in Brisbane.
The team drew widespread news coverage in Australia when players didn’t sing the Iranian anthem before their first match. The 26 players had arrived for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war started. They were knocked out over the weekend, raising prospect of having to return home to a country under attack.
Burke, who posted photos on social media of the women smiling and clapping as he signed documents, said all players on the squad had been offered asylum.
It was not clear if or when the other 21 players would return to Iran.
Airstrike on Iran-linked militia in Iraq kills 5
As the conflict spread across the region, Israel launched multiple attacks on the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon, which responded by firing missiles into Israel.
Pro-Iran militias in Iraq have also launched attacks at U.S. bases in the country since the beginning of the conflict.
Early Tuesday, one such militia — the 40th Brigade of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the city of Kirkuk — was hit with an airstrike that killed at least five militiamen and wounded four, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the strikes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Tuesday it completed a series of strikes targeting Hezbollah’s financial arm, al-Qard Al-Hasan. Israel had also targeted several of the group’s branches in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.
Israel’s military also reiterated a call for all residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes, saying it planned to “operate forcefully” there against Hezbollah.
Since the war began, at least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials.
A total of seven U.S. service members have been killed.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, and Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, John Pye in Gold Coast, Australia and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this story.