The Latest: Trump says he’ll hit Iran harder as Iranian president apologizes to neighbors

U.S. President Donald Trump warned in a Truth Social post that more Iranian officials will be targets, saying, “Today Iran will be hit very hard!,” while noting an apology by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the day to neighboring nations over Tehran’s attacks.

Gulf countries say they have intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones launched from Iran.

Here is the latest:

An Iranian strike has injured one person, damaged shops and hit a facility near a seaport in Bahrain.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said early Sunday that missile fragments fell onto a road in Manama, injuring one person and causing damage to several shops, prompting Civil Defense teams to secure and evacuate the affected areas.

The ministry also said that Iran targeted a facility near Mina Salman, a seaport in Manama, where Civil Defense is working to control a fire that broke out following the strike

An Israeli drone struck a room early Sunday in a hotel in Beirut’s Raouche district, a major seaside tourist area in the Lebanese capital with no notable Hezbollah presence, local media reported.

The strike hit the Ramada Hotel, popular with tourists and business travelers, and was heard by residents nearby.

The Lebanese health ministry said the strike killed four people and wounded 10. Israel did not immediately say who it targeted.

This is the second strike targeting a hotel since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah reignited earlier this week, after the Iran-backed group launched rockets and drones toward northern Israel, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes across Lebanon that have killed hundreds.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit the Comfort Hotel in the Hazmieh area of Beirut, a predominantly Christian suburb east of central Beirut.

Several drones struck three different areas in Sulaymaniyah in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, local media reported. One person was killed in one of the attacks, according to an official with one of the Kurdish Iranian dissident groups.

Two drones hit a building in the Sulaymaniyah city center, an area that houses offices and commercial buildings, including a United Nations compound. Live footage shared by local outlets showed a building engulfed in flames, while another video appeared to show air defenses engaging drones overhead.

Three other drones targeted Force 70, a Peshmerga unit of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Bafel Talabani, son of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and a senior Kurdish political leader. One drone also fell near Sulaymaniyah International Airport. No casualties were immediately reported.

Separate drones targeted positions of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, killing one person, according to an official with the group, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the press.

The strikes come amid a surge in drone activity targeting cities in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, including recent interceptions over Erbil.

By Stella Martany

The president said Saturday that the U.S. retains significant leverage over Iran and isn’t looking to negotiate with its remaining leadership.

“We’re not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “They’d like to settle. We’re not looking to settle.”

Steve Witkoff, one of his top envoys in talks with Iran, said the Tehran leadership did not seem “very amenable” during negotiations before the U.S. launched strikes.

“They told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily,” said Witkoff, referring to fellow negotiator and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. “So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude.”

During the gaggle with reporters, Trump repeatedly described the ongoing U.S. operations in Iran as an “excursion” and said issues such as rising gas prices and the safety of Americans would be improved once the conflict ends.

Israel’s military confirmed striking several fuel storage complexes in Tehran on Saturday night.

Associated Press video showed a glowing horizon over Tehran, followed by pillars of flame and billowing smoke.

The Iranian state news agency said an oil storage facility was targeted in the strikes. It is among the first times a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war.

The Israel Defense Forces said Iran was using the fuel tanks to supply its military.

Iran state media in response threatened to hit oil refineries in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Trump stopped short of confirming reports that U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia has provided Iran with information to target U.S. troops and assets in the Middle East. But the president suggested it was of little consequence if Moscow is found to be assisting out Iran.

“If you take a look at what’s happened to Iran in the last week, if they’re getting information, it’s not helping them much,” Trump said.

The president also waved off a question about how Russia assisting Iran in such a matter with impact his view of the U.S.-Russia relationship.

“They’d say we do it against them,” Trump responded. “Wouldn’t they say that we do it against them?”

The Ukrainian military has been assisted with U.S. intelligence to help defend against incoming missiles from Russia, and also to help Kyiv hit certain Russian targets.

When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for the Feb. 28 blast that killed more than 165 people, most of them children, Trump responded, without providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.”

Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions.

Satellite images, expert analysis, a U.S. official and public information released by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, however, have suggested that the explosion was likely caused by U.S. airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with the regime’s Revolutionary Guard.

The strike, which had the highest reported civilian death toll since the war began, has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights monito

He told reporters aboard Air Force One that he’s ruled out having Kurds join Iran war.

Trump says Kurdish fighters in region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government, but there involvement would make the conflict more complicated.

“The war is complicated enough without having-- getting the Kurds involved,” Trump said.

A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said late Saturday that a drone was intercepted and destroyed east of Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh.

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani has spoken in an address carried by state media. He asserted that “our leaders are united on this issue and have no disagreements with one another. We have no divisions among ourselves in fighting Israel and the United States.”

He spoke after President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacks on “neighboring countries” but other Iranian officials suggested that war strategy would not change.

Iran remains without a supreme leader.

Larijani also said the three-member leadership council overseeing Iran has requested that “arrangements be made to convene the Assembly of Experts to choose the next supreme leader of the country.” He did not say when.

The families of Iranian embassy staff left Saturday, along with teachers and students from an Iranian school and a number of other Iranians residing in Lebanon, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the move was made “due to the current security situation in Lebanon as a result of the brutal attacks launched by the Zionist entity against the country, and out of concern for the safety and security of our citizens residing in Lebanon.”

It said that consular services will continue for Iranians remaining in Lebanon.

Days earlier, the Israeli military issued a warning to “representatives of the Iranian terrorist regime still in Lebanon to leave immediately before they are targeted.” On Friday, an Israeli strike landed near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called an attack launched on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Saturday a “terrorist act” carried out by “rogue groups” and said he had issued orders to military and security agencies to pursue those responsible.

Iraqi security earlier said that a missile had landed on the helicopter landing pad in the U.S. Embassy complex in Baghdad. There were no casualties reported. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government offices and diplomatic missions has been attacked in the past, but this was the first reported strike to land in the week since Israel and the U.S. began striking Tehran, triggering a war in the Middle East.

Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. military bases and other facilities in Iraq since then. They have also struck bases of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups with operations in northern Iraq.

Hakan Fidan said he had spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who said a scheme for Iranian Kurdish forces based in northern Iraq to attack Iran was “not their intention.”

Speaking as a news conference in Istanbul, Fidan said Rubio’s comments came in a recent phone call. Instead the minister accused Israel of using Kurdish groups as “a proxy” in the region.

Strategies that “aim to create ethnic rivalry or an ethnic conflict in Iran would be something we oppose because it would be the most dangerous scenario,” Fidan said, adding that Turkey had been talking to Kurdish leaders to prevent such a “historic mistake.”

He refused to be drawn on efforts to mediate between Iran and the U.S. except to say Turkey had been involved in “intense diplomatic traffic” to produce a “formula to end this war.”

Massive plumes of flames lit up the sky in Tehran on Saturday night after the Iranian state news agency said that an oil storage facility was targeted in latest round of strikes. AP video showed the horizon glowing, then pillars of flame and billowing smoke.

It is among the first times a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the targets of the latest strike, but said Israel had recently launched another round of strikes in Tehran. Iran state media in response threatened to hit oil refineries in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Residents of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region, heard explosions and the sound of air defenses intercepting incoming missiles or drones Saturday evening.

Three Iraqi security officials said that a missile had landed on the helicopter landing pad in U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. There were no reports of casualties.

Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government offices and diplomatic missions has been attacked in the past, but this was the first reported strike to land in the week since Israel and the U.S. began striking Tehran, triggering a war in the Middle East.

Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. military bases and other facilities in Iraq since then. They have also struck bases of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups with operations in northern Iraq.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

By Qassim Abdul- Zahra

Spain has evacuated its embassy in Iran, the country’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares posted on X Sunday evening.

“The ambassador and essential personnel who had stayed in Tehran have just crossed the border with Azerbaijan and are safe,” Albares wrote.

The rest of Spanish embassies in the region are still functioning and answering emergency calls, he added.

“The safety of our citizens and of the Spanish foreign service is my priority,” Albares wrote.

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani says he will address the people of Iran “in a few hours.”

The statement was posted on Telegram and reported by state media. The exact time is not immediately clear.

Several airstrikes have shaken neighborhoods in Tehran’s east and southwest. Israel’s military has confirmed a new wave of strikes.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said at least 4,300 people stranded in the United Arab Emirates have been evacuated to France in recent days, with additional flights scheduled in the coming days.

Barrot told France 5 national television Saturday that 800 people returned on planes chartered by the French government to transport vulnerable passengers requiring special assistance. About 3,500 others were able to take commercial flights to Paris, he said.

Six commercial flights to Paris per day are scheduled for Sunday and Monday, he added.

Barrot said a flight organized by the French government is also expected to depart Sunday from Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

Some 400,000 French citizens live in the Middle East, including many dual citizens and permanent residents, according to the government. France began evacuation flights earlier this week.

The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai media office said late Saturday that debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle in the Barsha area and killed an “Asian driver.”

This brings the number of people killed in the UAE since the war began to four. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.

The Israeli military says Iran has launched more missiles toward Israel.

It has ordered residents across the country, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to seek cover in shelters.

Top hard-liner Iranian officials are casting doubt on President Masoud Pezeshkian’s comments that Iran might rein in attacks against regional countries.

Iran’s influential judiciary chief suggested on Saturday that its war strategy will not change.

“The geography of some countries in the region—both overtly and covertly—is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue,” Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei posted on X.

A couple hours later, another top hard-liner who is parliamentary speaker echoed these comments. “As long as the presence of U.S. bases in the region continue, the countries will not enjoy peace,” said Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. He added that Iranian officials were “united on this principle.”

Both comments followed on an earlier post on X from a firebrand cleric and lawmaker. Hamid Rasaee condemned the Iranian president’s earlier comments aired on state television as “weak” and “unacceptable”. He called on some top officials to clarify their own position.

Iran has shut down global internet access but its top officials continue to access X and other social media.

DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Media office said Saturday that falling shrapnel from interception of projectiles from Iran caused a minor damage to the facade of a tower in Dubai Marina, an area with many luxury high rises. There were no injuries reported.

Sirens have sounded several times across the UAE on Saturday.

The number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday has risen to 294, with another 1,023 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

It was not clear how many of them were civilians. Tens of thousands more have been displaced.

After the attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran triggered a new war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones into Israel Monday for the first time in over a year, and Israel has retaliated with bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The United Arab Emirates said it was intercepting another round of missile and drone threats from Iran.

President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the UAE is in a time of war as he visited five civilians who were wounded in strikes against the Gulf country on Friday.

He also had a clear message for the country’s foes in a statement released Saturday by the country’s media office. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

Earlier Saturday, the UAE’s Defense Ministry said that it had intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones since the war started last week. Three residents were killed last week and 112 have been wounded since the beginning of the war.

The island Kingdom’s Interior Ministry said Saturday evening that Iranian missiles caused a fire and other damage to a house and several surrounding buildings in the country’s capital of Manama.

It was not clear if an Iranian missile hit the country or the damage was a result of interception efforts.

This is the first material damage the country reports Saturday, but sirens have sounded at least seven times.

The Israeli military issued an urgent, renewed evacuation warning Saturday for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, urging those remaining in the area to leave immediately.

The warning, covering an area which had previously received evacuation warnings in the past few days, appeared to be directed at those who have not yet left ahead of what could be renewed Israeli strikes in the area.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told residents they would be notified by the military when it is considered safe to return to their homes.

Israel’s military said over the weekend it has struck more than 170 targets associated with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel’s airport authority says some 5,268 people are expected to return to the country on Saturday on special flights repatriating Israelis stranded abroad.

That would bring the number of Israelis returning to Israel to nearly 15,000 people since the flights began on Thursday.

Israel’s skies have been mostly closed since the war broke out a week ago. There have been very limited repatriation flights, including through the U.S. State Department, in the past two days. Limited commercial flights of Israeli companies offering rescue flights to Greece and Cyprus will resume on Sunday, the airports authority said.

Israel’s overland borders have remained open. Almost 19,000 people have entered Israel and 24,700 people have exited Israel via its land crossings since the war began last week.

The U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said one of the country’s two flagship aircraft carriers has been placed on advanced preparedness, stoking speculation that it may be deployed to the Middle East.

Following reports that an aircraft carrier was being prepared in response to the crisis in the Middle East, the ministry said it is “reducing the time it would take” for HMS Prince of Wales to set sail for any deployment.

“HMS Prince of Wales has always been on very high readiness and we are increasing the preparedness of the carrier,” it said in a statement.

A university student who lives in western Tehran has described deepening fear in the capital as strikes intensify.

Tehran is under severe bombardment, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Every moment without any warning sirens or any announcement some part of the city is under attack and many buildings have broken glass, he added.

Even residents in parts of the city far from clear government and military targets are living in fear, he said.

By Amir-Hussein Radjy

Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates all reported they intercepted missiles and drones on Saturday evening from Iran. The attacks come eight hours after Iranian president apologized Saturday for attacks on “neighboring countries.”

The attacks underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and now appears to be picking its own targets.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry said that it was responding to intercept missiles and drones launched toward the country, as Qatar’s Defense Ministry also said that it intercepted a missile attack. Meanwhile, sirens went off in the island kingdom of Bahrain for the seventh time on Saturday.

The United Arab Emirates says it is being attacked by Iran.

The Defense Ministry says air defense systems were intercepting missiles and drones.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it struck a Tehran airport used to help transport weapons to militant groups that Iran supported across the Middle East.

The military said the Mehrabad Airport was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups, especially Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel said it destroyed 16 aircrafts that were used for transporting weapons as part of a broad wave of strikes against Tehran overnight. The strike also destroyed several Iranian fighter jets.

There was no immediate acknowledgment of the strike on Iran’s state media.

Trump spoke during an event on Florida about the six U.S. troops who were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait. Trump is set to fly to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware later Saturday, to be on hand for the dignified transfer of the troops.

Trump called it a “very sad situation to greet the families of the heroes who are coming home from Iran and coming home in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home.” He added the troops are “great heroes in our country.”

Trump said that “when it comes to war,” there will be U.S. troop deaths, but added “we’re going to keep it to a minimum.”

Kuwait says it is reducing oil production as a “precautionary” measure due to the war in the Middle East.

The Kuwait Petroleum Cooperation blamed Iran’s attacks on the country as well as threats to the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes.

The Kuwaiti statement did not say how much it was reducing output, but Saturday’s announcement threatened to further jolt global energy markets.

Kuwait is one of the world’s largest oil producers. The week-old war has disrupted the flow of oil out of the Gulf and sent oil prices surging.