Iran says 200 US soldiers killed as Turkiye warns against stirring civil conflict in Tehran  

TEHRAN:  The conflict between Iran and Israel intensified as the war in the Middle East entered its ninth day, with both sides carrying out new attacks and the situation across the region becoming increasingly volatile.

According to the report, Iranian authorities also claimed that around 200 US military personnel had been killed in various attacks over the past 24 hours and alleged that several American soldiers declared dead by US officials were in fact captured during the fighting.

Iran said it launched retaliatory attacks targeting a refinery in the Israeli port city of Haifa and also struck a US oil vessel. Iranian officials repeated their claim that 200 US soldiers had been killed within a 24-hour period in different attacks.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it also targeted a US oil ship and a tanker flying the flag of the Marshall Islands in the strategic Strait of Hormuz using drones. The IRGC further claimed that 21 US personnel were killed at a naval base in Bahrain.

The channel reported that late-night strikes were carried out on fuel storage installations around Tehran. An oil depot located near the central refinery in the capital was struck, while another depot in north-western Tehran was also hit.

Witnesses reported seeing large flames and thick smoke rising from the affected facilities, and another strike was reported in the Shahran area of the capital.

The Israel Defence Forces said its aircraft targeted several fuel storage complexes used by the Iranian military based on intelligence information. Israeli officials claimed that the storage tanks were used to support military infrastructure and provide fuel to Iranian military institutions.

On the other hand, Iran claimed that some US military personnel declared dead by the United States Department of Defence were actually captured during the conflict.

Turkey warns over dangerous bid to stir civil war in Iran

Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign minister advised against efforts to cause a civil war inside Iran, while warning Tehran after NATO intercepted a Turkey-bound ballistic missile launched from Iran this week.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said any effort to stir up a civil war inside Iran in a bid to bring about regime change would be a “historic” mistake.

“We are against all scenarios that aim to instigate a civil war in Iran, that target ethnic or religious fault lines,” Fidan told journalists in Istanbul. “This is the most dangerous scenario,” he added.

He was speaking after reports that Washington was looking to arm Kurdish guerrillas to infiltrate Iran, with US President Donald Trump expressing support for such an offensive.

However, Trump said Saturday that “We’re not looking to the Kurds going in”.

“We’re very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is,” he told reporters in a briefing aboard Air Force One.

Fidan said he had raised the matter with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had denied any American involvement in such an issue.