DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday and Iran struck a desalination plant in Bahrain as the war entered its ninth day, expanding the conflict to new types of targets across the region.
Such infrastructure is critical for drinking water supplies in the parched deserts of the Gulf. The strike came after 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.”
The U.S. military has not acknowledged a strike on the plant.
In Lebanon, renewed Israeli strikes pushed the death toll there above 300 after Israel ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate ahead of an offensive aimed at stamping out Iran-supported forces there.
Israel and the United States launched the war on Feb. 28, saying they were targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and suggesting they sought to topple the government. The conflict has since spread across the region, rattling global markets, disrupting air travel and leaving Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Iran has fired missiles and drones at neighboring countries in the Gulf, Israel has intensified attacks in Lebanon and strikes have reported from Cyprus to waters off of Sri Lanka.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Saturday promised “many surprises” in the next phase of the conflict, saying Israel aims to destabilize Iran’s regime and allow change in government.
Iranian president apologizes for attacks but has limited power over them
Iran has apologized for attacks on attacks on “neighboring countries,” even as its missiles and drones continued striking sites in Gulf states — including attacks that have killed civilians — and hard-liners signaled Tehran would not change course.
President Masoud Pezeshkian again struck a conciliatory tone on Sunday, calling Iran’s neighbors friends and brothers while accusing the United States and Israel of using “manipulation” to sow discord between them in remarks aired on state television.
“We will not bow our heads to bullying, injustice or intrusion,” he said.
Pezeshkian and other Iranian leaders have underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls ballistic missiles used to target Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets. The president is one three members of a leadership council that has overseen Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war’s opening airstrikes.
A rift between politicians looking to de-escalate the war and others committed to battling the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic efforts.
Pezeshkian’s remarks came a day after he said the leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces and “from now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”
The U.S. strikes have not come from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from U.S. bases and vessels in the region.
But hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man council, suggested that 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,” he posted on X.
No sign of deescalation
Pezeshkian also dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Tehran to surrender unconditionally, saying: “That’s a dream that they should take to their grave.”
Trump threatened that Iran would be “hit very hard” and more “areas and groups of people” would become targets, without elaborating. Already, the conflict has rattled global markets and left Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
“We’re not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One. “They’d like to settle. We’re not looking to settle.”
He 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 improve once the conflict ends.
The U.S. and Israel have targeted Iran’s military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The war’s stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership.
The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
Strikes target other Gulf countries
After Pezeshkian’s apology, Iranian strikes kept coming.
Ahead of the strike in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates said Sunday that debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle and killed a driver. Four people have now been killed in the UAE since the war began. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.
The UAE urged residents to stay indoors Sunday morning as its military responded to a drone attack. In Kuwait, authorities said a wave of drones targeted critical infrastructure, including fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport and a government building in Kuwait City. At least two people were killed by strikes in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field on Sunday and shot down four drones over the capital, Riyadh, including one aimed at the diplomatic quarter. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said that missile fragments fell onto a road in Manama, injuring one person and causing damage to several shops.
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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press journalists Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, and Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed reporting.
By JON GAMBRELL, SAM METZ and SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press
