Iran FM says US attacking desalination plant, Iran Guards 'waiting' for US forces at Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States on Saturday of attacking a desalination plant on a Gulf island, saying it had set a precedent.

"The US committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island," said Araghchi in a post on X. "Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran."

Earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they were waiting for US forces to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway where traffic remains strangled as the escalating war in the Middle East entered its second week and oil prices surged on fears about global supply disruption.

The US-Israeli bombing campaign unleashed on February 28 has provoked Iranian retaliation against US allies across the region, with President Donald Trump saying Friday that only "unconditional" Iranian surrender would end the war.

But early on Saturday, air raid alerts and explosions were ringing out above Jerusalem as well as Gulf cities Dubai, Manama and near Riyadh -- where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an airbase housing US military personnel.

"We are waiting for their presence," said Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini, after the US energy secretary announced the Navy was preparing to escort ships through the strait "as soon as it's reasonable to do it".

"We recommend that before making any decision, the Americans remember the fire of the American supertanker Bridgeton in 1987 and the oil tankers that were recently targeted," Naini said, according to Fars news agency.

Only nine ships crossed Hormuz since Monday

Only nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships, some of which at times concealed their position, have been recorded crossing the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analysed by AFP.

After three ships were attacked on Sunday, at least three tankers and a vessel carrying gas have crossed this chokepoint, a key shipping lane virtually shut by the war in the Middle East.

Nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and about 20 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Only vessels that emitted at least one signal on either side of the Strait of Hormuz were counted by AFP, excluding any others that may have travelled with their signals entirely concealed for a long period of time.

Attacks since Sunday have multiplied against ships navigating Hormuz, raising concerns about a lasting impact on the global economy as the US-Israeli war on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region have upended the world's energy sector.

Iran armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi told Iranian state broadcaster Irib, "We emphasize the security of the Strait of Hormuz and control it, but we will not close it."

Despite the conflict, "some tankers are still travelling east and west through the strait, with a number of voyages occurring under AIS (automatic identification system) blackouts," said Matt Wright, an analyst at Kpler, which publishes MarineTraffic, on Wednesday.

One example is the tanker Kavomaleas, which emitted a signal east of the strait on March 3 and then another in the Gulf about 14 hours later.

- Sanctioned ships -
Another example is a 130-metre (427-foot) container ship registered in Panama, which left Pakistan on Monday. Having arrived at the entrance to the Gulf on Wednesday night, it has been inside the strait since Thursday morning.

The Pushpak, a vessel designed for transporting petroleum products, left the Gulf on Thursday evening, having departed from an Iraqi port.

The Hout, a cargo ship registered in the Comoros, left Dubai on Tuesday bound for a port in southeastern Iran.

The Danuta I, a 225-metre natural gas carrier under US sanctions, crossed the Strait of Hormuz at dawn on Friday.

The Athina, spotted by the Financial Times, was east of the strait on February 28 and transmitted a position to MarineTraffic west of Hormuz on March 1.

It loaded oil in Bahrain before resuming its journey towards the strait but has not transmitted any signal since Thursday afternoon.

It is one of at least five ships belonging to the Dynacom company that have crossed the strait since the war started last Saturday, all with their transponders switched off, according to the Financial Times.

Most carriers have suspended their operations and the passage remains perilous, as demonstrated by the Safeen Prestige, which was hit by projectiles while sailing east from the Gulf on Tuesday, according to the British Maritime Safety Organisation (UKMTO).

Iran Guards targets oil tanker in Gulf

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they had targeted an oil tanker in the Gulf in their conflict with Israel and the United States.

"This morning, an oil tanker with the trade name Prima was hit by an exploding drone after ignoring repeated warnings from the IRGC naval forces regarding the prohibition of traffic and the insecurity of the Strait of Hormuz," the Guards said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

The Guards earlier said they were "waiting" for US forces to escort ships through the strait.

- Sirens in Jerusalem -

Explosions were heard and air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Saturday, AFP journalists said, as Israel and America's war with Iran entered a second week.

At least three explosions were heard, while over the past 24 hours at least six air raid alerts have been issued across Israel.

- New strikes on Tehran -

Israel began a new wave of air strikes on the Iranian cities of Tehran and Isfahan Saturday after an overnight blitz that involved 80 fighter jets.

Israel's military earlier said jets hit an academy of Iran's Revolutionary Guards which "was being used as an emergency asset".

Israeli and US attacks on the central province of Isfahan killed at least eight people on Saturday, a provincial official said.

- Hezbollah sites hit -

Israel's military said Saturday it had struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon's south and east, killing commanders from the Lebanese armed group, and hitting military sites including command centres.

The Israeli military said it had "completed an additional wave of strikes targeting rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities, and additional military sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in various areas in southern Lebanon and in the Beqaa valley".

'Massive' drone strikes on Israel, US bases

Iran's army said Saturday its navy had launched a wave of drone attacks targeting Israel as well as US bases in the UAE and Kuwait, as the regional war raged into its second week.

"The Iranian Navy targeted American bases and occupied territories with a massive wave of drone attacks," the army said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

It said the targets included the UAE's Al Minhad base and another in Kuwait, as well as a "strategic facility" in Israel.

Explosion over Dubai airport

An explosion was heard over Dubai airport on Saturday followed by a cloud of smoke in the air, a witness told AFP, as Iran pressed attacks across the Gulf.

The Flightradar24 tracking website showed planes circulating above the airport in an apparent holding pattern.

Limited flights resumed from Dubai's main airport, the world's busiest for international traffic, on Monday despite daily drone attacks on targets in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai Media Office described "a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception" in a post on X, but also denied reports circulating about the airport in the same post.

Four staff were injured and a concourse damaged at Dubai airport last Saturday, as war erupted following US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

Dubai Airports said at the time that the incident was "quickly contained", without giving further details.

Iranian attacks have also hit Abu Dhabi airport, the upmarket Palm Jumeirah development and the Burj Al Arab luxury hotel, while drone debris caused a fire at the US consulate in Dubai on Tuesday.

Civilian areas hit

Iranian authorities said civilian areas were hit as Israel announced a new wave of "broad-scale" strikes on Tehran on Saturday after US President Donald Trump said only Iran's unconditional surrender would bring an end to the escalating Middle East war.

Iran launched attacks on Israel and its Gulf neighbours meanwhile with Saudi Arabia saying it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired at the Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh which houses US military personnel.

Crude oil prices surged on mounting fears about global supply disruption as the US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran's pressure on the Strait of Hormuz upend the world's energy and transport sectors.

The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped to $92.69 per barrel on Friday, up 8.5 percent on the day and nearly 30 percent for the week.

The Israeli military said early Saturday that it had launched a "broad-scale wave of strikes" on government targets in Tehran.

Iran's state broadcaster reported an explosion in the western part of the capital but further details were not immediately available.

US Central Command, responsible for US forces in the Middle East, said over 3,000 Iranian targets have been struck over the past week, including Revolutionary Guard headquarters, command-and-control centers, air defence systems, missile sites, navy warships and submarines.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States is "not concerned" about reports that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran on US troop positions and movements.

While declining to confirm the reports, Hegseth, in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," said: "We're tracking everything."

The renewed Israeli attacks on Tehran came a day after Israel intensified its air strikes on Lebanon, striking Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah holds sway, and Baalbeck in the east.

- 'Spiral beyond anyone's control' -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for "serious diplomatic negotiations" and warned of a "situation that could spiral beyond anyone's control."

Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced support for an "immediate" ceasefire in Iran during a phone call with Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday, the Kremlin said.

Trump, who has given varying reasons for starting the war, has spurned fresh talks with Tehran, however, and said on Truth Social "there will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said when the president determines Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States and the operation's goals are realized, "Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender, whether they say it themselves or not."

Trump also promised to help rebuild the country's economy if Tehran installs someone "acceptable" to him to replace Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed last weekend.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States would have no role in selecting Khamenei's successor.

"The selection of Iran's leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference," he added.

- 'Humanitarian disaster' -

Six US service members have died and Trump is to attend the return of their bodies at a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday.

Lebanon's health ministry said at least 217 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that a "humanitarian disaster is looming."

The Norwegian Refugee Council said 300,000 people in the country had been forced to flee their homes.

Three UN peacekeepers were wounded when their base in southern Lebanon was hit on Friday, the UN force and the Ghanaian military said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of targeting them, and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as "unacceptable."

Tehran was pummeled by Israeli strikes on Friday, which AFP journalists described as among the heaviest days of bombardments yet.

According to Iran's health ministry, the US and Israeli strikes have killed 926 people, a number AFP could not independently verify.

Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf states since the war began and at least 10 people have been killed in Israel, according to first responders.

Qatar said it had been targeted by 10 Iranian drones on Friday, nine of which were intercepted. The other landed in an uninhabited area.

Drones struck airports and oil facilities in Iraq on Friday and targeted Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the northern Kurdistan region, security officials said.

Tehran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow, critical energy waterway where tankers typically move nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and about 20 percent of liquefied natural gas from the Gulf.

Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in Gulf countries since the war began, including an 11-year-old girl, Elena Abdullah Hussein, in Kuwait.

Two hours before she died, the girl called her father at work to tell him she loved him.

"It was as if she was trying to say goodbye," the girl's father Abdullah Hussein told AFP at her funeral.

- Israel responding to missile attack -

The Israeli military said that air defenses were responding to an Iranian missile attack on Saturday that sparked air raid alerts across the country.

Iran has been striking Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has pounded sites around the country.

- Lebanon-Syria border clashes -

Lebanese official media said on Saturday that clashes had erupted on the Lebanon-Syria border as Israel attempted a landing operation, with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved.

Israel has sent group troops into Lebanon since Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday to avenge the killing of Khamenei.

- Israel says Iran using cluster bombs -

Israel accused Iran on Friday of launching cluster munitions "multiple times" since the start of the war -- referring to bombs that explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets.

Iran and Israel are not party to a convention that prohibits the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs -- which can cause casualties over time, particularly children, as some of them do not explode on impact.

- Saudi Arabia intercepts attacks -

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said Saturday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base, and the Gulf nation's state news said it thwarted a drone attack of an oil field near the Emirati border.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, reported at least two drone attacks earlier this week that targeted the Ras Tanura refinery in the east.

- Russia feeds Iran intel, US 'aware' -

The White House downplayed a report Friday that Russia is helping Iran target US forces in the Middle East, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth telling CBS News's "60 Minutes" program that "our commanders are aware of everything."

The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the intelligence, said Russia has provided Iran with the locations of US military assets, including ships and aircraft.

- Iran rejects Trump's succession overtures -

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations on Friday condemned US interference after President Donald Trump insisted that he should be involved in selecting the successor of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The selection of Iran's leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference," Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters in New York.

- US to boost weapons production -

Major US defence companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons, Trump said on the seventh day of his war against Iran.

The United States struck more than 3,000 targets during the first week of the conflict, the military said.

- Oil prices surge -

Crude prices surged on mounting fears about oil supply disruption as the US-Israel strikes and Tehran's retaliatory attacks across the Gulf region upend the world's energy and transport sectors.

The international benchmark oil contract, Brent North Sea crude, jumped to $92.69 per barrel, up 8.5 percent for the day and nearly 30 percent for the week.

- Rockets target Baghdad airport complex -

Rockets targeted the Baghdad airport complex that hosts a military base and a US diplomatic facility.

A shadowy group called Saraya Awliyaa al-Dam (Guardians of Blood), which claims to be part of the Tehran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said it was behind the attack on the base.

- UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon -

Several Ghanaian members of a United Nations peacekeeping were wounded when their base was hit in southern Lebanon, state media reported, without specifying the source of the attack.

Israel has been hitting southern Lebanon in its battle against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

- UN chief slams 'unlawful attacks' -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned "unlawful attacks" across the Middle East and warned that the war could spiral out of control.

Guterres said the crisis was causing "tremendous suffering and harm" and posed a "grave risk" to the global economy.

- Only nine commercial ships navigate Hormuz -

Just nine oil tankers, cargo and container ships have been recorded passing through the Strait of Hormuz since Monday, according to MarineTraffic data analyzed by AFP.

Nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and about 20 percent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually transit the waterway, but the conflict has virtually shut it down.

- France deploys helicopter carrier -

France has sent a helicopter carrier to the Mediterranean in response to the war, the French military told AFP.

Paris decided to deploy its flagship aircraft carrier and a frigate earlier in the week.