Iran FM Urges Neighbors to Expel US Forces; US embassy attack in Baghdad, attack hit Iran-backed fighters
Smoke rises from the direction of an energy plant in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah. Photo: AFP
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/BAGHDAD:
US President Donald Trump called on other nations to help secure a vital shipping route choked by the war with Iran, which showed no sign of abating on Saturday as strikes hit the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirati energy facility, with Iran threatening to reduce US-linked oil facilities to “a pile of ashes” as the two-week-old world war spilled over into a Middle East oil price rout.
Oil prices have risen by 40 percent as Iran has choked the vital Strait of Hormuz and attacked Gulf energy facilities.
Clouds of black smoke rose over Fujairah on Saturday, home to a major Emirati oil storage and export terminal, AFP journalists saw, shortly after Iran’s military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.
Washington’s embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone, security sources told AFP, the second time it has been targeted in the war, and the Emirati consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan was also hit for the second time in a week.
Five US Air Force aerial refueling planes were damaged during an Iranian missile attack on a key military installation in Saudi Arabia, according to US officials familiar with the incident.
The plane was hit while parked at Prince Sultan Air Base, a large facility that hosts US forces in Saudi Arabia. Officials said the attack came amid a wave of Iranian missile launches targeting US military assets across the region in recent days.
After earlier promising that the US Navy would “very soon” begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Trump appeared to call for reinforcements on Saturday.
“Many countries… will send warships, along with the US, to keep the strait open and safe,” he wrote on Truth Social, saying China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain 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 “wiped out all MILITARY targets”, although they had spared its energy facilities.
The attack on Kharg could be a turning point, with both sides escalating the conflict in an attempt to force a surrender, Johns Hopkins University analyst Vali Nasr said on social media.
“The end probably won’t be Iran backing down, but igniting the Gulf.”
Israel’s 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”.
Still, Iran seemed determined to fight on despite superior American and Israeli firepower.
Explosions were heard by AFP journalists over Jerusalem after the military detected missiles sent from Iran on Saturday.
Qatar evacuated areas in the center and intercepted two missiles with explosions heard by AFP journalists.
Hamas urged Iran to refrain from attacking Gulf neighbors, many of whom have supported the country’s cause. It was a rare break between the allies, although Hamas affirmed Tehran’s right to defend itself.
Iran continued to face heavy bombardment with local media reporting attacks in several provinces into Saturday.
Israel’s military, meanwhile, warned people in an industrial zone 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 strikes, 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 “completely defeated” and looking for a deal he was unwilling to consider.
More than 15,000 targets in Iran have been hit by the US and Israel, the Pentagon said. A report this week said the first six days alone cost US$11.3 billion, while 13 military personnel have died in the war.
Transition
US media raised the possibility of US troops on the ground in Iran, with the New York Times and 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 appeared keen to show they would survive the war and maintain control, despite the killing of their Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the opening day.
Iranian Foreign Minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday mocked the United States, claiming it was now “begging others” to make the Strait of Hormuz safe again.
In a post on X, he said: “Proclaimed American security umbrella has proven to be full of holes and welcoming rather than deterring trouble. The US is now begging others, even China, to help it make Hormuz safe. Iran is calling on fraternal neighbors to expel foreign aggressors, especially since their only concern is Israel.”
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 others for reinforcements. Of course, we remind you that the Strait of Hormuz has not yet been closed by militaries.”
Araghchi also said separately that US attacks on Kharg Island on Friday made it “crystal clear that they are using the territory of our neighbors to attack us with these kinds of rockets, and this is absolutely unacceptable”.
He said the attacks were tracked by Iranian forces. “Now it is clear that they are being fired from the UAE – from two places in the UAE – from Ras Al Khaimah and from a place very close to the city of Dubai. And it is very dangerous that they are using densely populated areas to fire rockets at us,” Araghchi added.
Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to rebuild everything destroyed in Israeli and US airstrikes even better than before as the conflict in the Middle East continues.
In a post on X, he said: “Fifteen days have passed since the forced and unjust war, and despite transportation, communication and other challenges, thanks to our colleagues in the government, there has been no serious disruption in service delivery to the people. With the camaraderie of you noble people of Iran, we will overcome these conditions and rebuild everything they destroyed even better than before.”
The comments came after US President Donald Trump said warships from the US military and other countries were on their way to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remained “open and safe” for traffic.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on neighboring countries on Saturday to expel American forces from the Middle East.
The US security umbrella in the region “has proven to be full of holes and inviting rather than deterring trouble,” the top diplomat wrote on X, adding that Iran urged its neighbors “to expel foreign aggressors”.
Iran will attack US companies in the region if its energy facilities are attacked in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday.
“Our armed forces have already responded that they would 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 a US company is a shareholder,” he added.
The US embassy in Baghdad was hit on Saturday by an attack after attacks that killed three members of a powerful Iran-backed group in the capital, security sources said.
Long a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, Iraq was quickly drawn into the Middle East war triggered by US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February.
A cloud of black smoke rose over the US diplomatic mission shortly after the sound of explosions on Saturday morning, an AFP journalist said.
Two security officials told AFP the embassy compound was hit by a drone.
The US embassy did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on the incident.
It is the second time the American embassy has been attacked in Baghdad since the start of the war.
