DUBAI, March 8: Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the US and Israel press ahead with their air campaign.
“When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be,” Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday.
“Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression – and it never has.” Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbours on Saturday.
Those comments, in which he appeared to apologise for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners.
Pezeshkian said Iran is not looking for a battle against neighbouring Arab countries, many of which host American military bases.
“They are our brothers,” he said, accusing the US of trying to pit the region’s countries against one another. Many Iranian attacks have gone beyond US bases in the region, striking energy facilities, hotels and cities.
Pezeshkian’s remarks Sunday reinforced pledges that Iran would not surrender despite US and Israeli threats, with Trump and Netanyahu saying their aim remains the replacement of Iran’s leaders.
Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant on Sunday, raising fears that civilian infrastructure may become fair game in the war, as Iran’s president vowed to expand the country’s attacks on American targets across the region in the face of intense US and Israeli airstrikes.
A late-night Israeli strike on an oil facility engulfed parts of Iran’s capital, Tehran, in smoke on Sunday, while Israel renewed attacks in Lebanon.
The United Arab Emirates said that Iran launched more than 100 missiles and drones in new barrages. Only four drones fell at unnamed locations, the country’s defense ministry said.
Israel renewed its assault early Sunday on parts of Lebanon, where health officials reported at least 394 people have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said on Sunday that 83 children and 82 women were among those killed.
Indian national killed in Saudi Arabia
An Indian national is among two killed after a projectile fell on a residential location in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, officials said.
The military projectile fell in a residential area in Saudi Arabia’s al-Kharj Governorate on Sunday, killing two people and injuring 12 others, the Saudi Civil Defence said.
A spokesman said the projectile struck a residential compound belonging to a maintenance and cleaning company in Al-Kharj which employs Indian and Bangladeshi nationals. (Agencies)
