Dubai – Gulf countries reported new attacks Sunday morning, a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates, accusing Abu Dhabi of providing bases for US forces for the launch of recent strikes on its Kharg island.
Tehran accused the United States of using “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran’s oil exports, without providing evidence, as the war showed no signs of ending.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the execution of the 51st wave of Operation True Promise 4, launching missile strikes against US military installations across the region in retaliation for ongoing American-Israeli aggression against the country.
US President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have deepened Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis, with more than 800 people killed and over 850,000 displaced.
Here is the latest:
Latest Iranian missile attack on Israel has caused significant damage in Israel.
It was one of the multiple barrages targeting Israel Sunday. It damaged an apartment building in the central Israeli ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak. Photos and video showed a blackened hole in place of the apartment’s windows.
It comes after an earlier barrage hit 23 sites in the Tel Aviv area.
Southern Beirut ravaged by overnight strikes
Collapsed concrete, exposed rebar and sheets of plastic were spilt onto the streets of southern Beirut on Sunday morning. Smoke rose into the air, and small fires burned.
That was the scene in the city’s suburb of Haret Hreik, after a night of continued Israeli airstrikes.
In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by war, just over a year since the last conflict uprooted over a million Lebanese from their homes. Israeli strikes have killed 826 people, including 106 children and 65 women, since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, according to the Health Ministry.
Pope addresses leaders to demand a cease-fire in the Middle East
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday escalated his appeal for peace by directly addressing the leaders who launched the war.
“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of goodwill, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said. “Cease fire so that avenues for dialogue may be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace that the people are waiting for.”
While Leo didn’t mention the United States or Israel by name, he mentioned the bombings that targeted a school — an apparent reference to the missile strike on an elementary school in Iran in the opening days of the war that killed over 165 people, many of them children.
The Vatican has highlighted the carnage of the Minab strike, running a photo of the mass grave for the victims on the front page of its official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, under the headline “The Face of War.” US officials have said outdated intelligence likely led to the United States launching the strike and that an investigation is ongoing.
Norwegian leader worried about continuing escalation
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said it should be the responsibility of the countries involved to “find ways of ending the hostilities that now have a great impact around the world.”
Speaking alongside the leaders of Canada and the other Nordic nations on Sunday, Store said: “It seems to us that the plan for how it will develop is pretty unclear.” He added: “That’s the danger with initiating wars, that they rarely follow a script.”
He said that “we are concerned to see that there is still an escalation.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “takes note” of Trump’s comments. It said that South Korea and the US “will closely coordinate and carefully review” the situation.
The ministry said South Korea closely monitors developments in the Middle East and explores various options to secure safe energy supply routes and protect South Korean nationals.
The Korea International Trade Association says it gets around 70% of its crude oil and 20% of its LNG from the Middle East.
Britain is intensively looking at how to help secure the Strait of Hormuz
Asked whether Britain is considering sending minesweepers or mine-hunting drones to the strategic waterway to help shipping return to normal, UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Sky News: “We are talking to our allies.”
“We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because it’s so important that we get the strait reopened,” he said.
Miliband told the BBC on Sunday that “any options that can help to get the strait reopened are being looked at.” He added, “We don’t want a nuclear Iran, but ending this conflict is the best and surest way to get the strait reopened.”
Expectations are high that US President Donald Trump could ask Japan to send warships to the Persian Gulf when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets him on Thursday at the White House.
Public opinion in Japan is divided about getting involved. Foreign Ministry sources told Japanese public broadcaster NHK that Japan makes its own decisions and won’t dispatch ships just because Trump asked. Defence Ministry sources told NHK that deploying Japan’s Self-Defence Forces would be difficult, involving the assessment of the legality of US and Israeli actions. NHK did not identify the sources.
56 cultural sites in Iran damaged in Israeli strikes
The sites include museums and bazaars, historic government buildings and mosques, Iran’s Cultural Heritage Ministry said Sunday.
Among the damaged sites are the ornate Qajar-era Golestan Palace in Tehran, the Shah Abbas Mosque and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoun palace in Isfahan.
The damage isn’t limited to Tehran and Isfahan. The ministry said sites in Kurdistan, Lorestan and Kermanshah were also affected.
Iranian foreign minister says Tehran will study any proposal to end the war
Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on Sunday for neighbouring countries to expel US 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 posted on X, adding that Iran called on its neighbors “to expel foreign aggressors”.
Iran’s top diplomat, however, said his country was ready to consider any proposal that includes “a complete end” to the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic.
Araghchi was quoted as saying by the London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed that mediations by Iran’s neighbours were underway to de-escalate and present “ideas to end the war”. He gave no indication of whether progress had been made.
Araghchi also insisted that Iran’s attacks on its Arab neighbours were limited to US bases and assets. He said Tehran is ready to establish a joint committee with its neighbours to investigate such attacks.
Tankers continue to load oil on Iran’s Kharg Island
A tanker was seen loading oil on Sunday on Iran’s Kharg Island, two days after the US struck military facilities there.
Bahrain tallies hundreds of intercepted Iranian projectiles
The vessel-tracking platform TankerTrackers said seven more tankers are seen at the anchorage. Five had already loaded fuel oil, while two are waiting to load, according to satellite imagery. It wasn’t immediately clear who the tankers belonged to.
Bahrain said on Sunday its air defences have intercepted 125 missiles and 211 drones since the Iran war began.
The small island nation — home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet — has been among the most affected by Iranian strikes, which have hit ports, a hotel, a refinery and a water desalination plant. Similar in size to Singapore and less than one-third the size of Rhode Island, it relies on US-made air defence systems. At least one person has been killed in the attacks.
Iran continues to target US assets
The IRGC announced the latest wave was carried out using a combination of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel missiles against US forces at the Al Kharj Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
According to the IRGC statement, Al Kharj base served as the “origin of aggressions against Iran”, functioning as the staging ground for US F-35 and F-16 fighter jets involved in attacks on Iran.
The base also houses fuel supply aircraft and serves as the main hub for American AWACS surveillance planes.
Concurrently, the spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters confirmed that the fiftieth wave of the operation struck multiple US bases.
They include the Al Dhafra Air Base and Fujairah in the UAE; Jufair in Bahrain; Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait; Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan; as well as early warning radar systems positioned throughout the region that serve as protective shields for Israel.
UN migration agency warns of mass displacement in Iran
The scale of US-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure has been extensive.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society reported that over 24,500 civilian facilities across Iran have been damaged in US and Israeli strikes, including nearly 20,000 residential units, 4,500 commercial facilities, and 69 schools, with 154 individuals killed and nearly 200 teachers and students wounded.
The International Organisation for Migration said Sunday that deteriorating conditions in Iranian cities were “driving increasingly complex mobility patterns”. It says the destruction of homes and facilities that provide basic services is pushing many Iranians to northern provinces, where they think they could be safer.
The UN agency said people have been displaced to more than 20 provinces and that shelters were facing strain throughout Iran. Iranians are also fleeing to neighbouring states, the agency said, including nearly 32,000 to Afghanistan and nearly 4,000 to Pakistan, even though airports and most border crossings — especially to Iraq — are closed. ~ With inputs from AP/ WANA
