Iran vows will never ‘bow’ as Trump threatens ‘very hard’ strikes amid soaring Middle East conflict

• President Pezeshkian says Iran will not target neighbours unless attacked first

• IRGC warns all US-Israel bases in region are ‘primary targets’ if hostilities continue

• At least 41 killed in Israeli raids on Lebanon’s Nabi Chit; Saudi Arabia intercepts missiles and drones

• Iranian missiles and drones strike northern Israel, Haifa hit with Kheibar Shekan guided missiles

• Turkiye, Organisation of Turkic States call for de-escalation and regional stability

• UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed assures nation is prepared, vows protection of all residents

 TEHRAN/WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV: TEHRAN/WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV: As the war launched by the United States and Israel enters its second week, tensions across the Middle East continue to escalate with no signs of abating. US President Donald Trump has threatened “very hard” strikes on Iran, while Iran maintains it will never surrender to foreign pressures.

President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed that Iran will not target neighbouring countries unless attacks originate from there, rejecting Trump’s demand for “unconditional surrender” as Tehran continues drone and missile strikes on targets in Israel and the Gulf region.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that all US and Israeli military bases and interests in the region would be considered primary targets should attacks on Iran continue.

Casualties and regional strikes

At least 41 people have been killed in Israeli air and ground raids on the Lebanese town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles aimed at Prince Sultan airbase, as well as drones targeting the Shaybah oilfield.

المتحدث الرسمي لـ #وزارة_الدفاع: سقوط صاروخ باليستي في منطقة غير مأهولة أُطلق باتجاه قاعدة الأمير سلطان الجوية. pic.twitter.com/SbujnGQFHH

— وزارة الدفاع (@modgovksa) March 7, 2026

President Pezeshkian confirmed that Iran’s interim leadership council had approved stopping strikes on neighbouring nations and issued apologies for any recent collateral effects. “Iran’s actions target US military bases, facilities, and installations, not neighbouring countries,” he clarified on X.

جمهوری اسلامی ایران بر حفظ و تداوم روابط دوستانه با دولت های منطقه بر مبنای حسن همجواری و احترام متقابل به حاکمیت ملی و تمامیت سرزمینی همواره تاکید دارد. این امر نافی حق ذاتی ایران برای دفاع از خود در برابر تجاوز نظامی آمریکا و رژیم صهیونیستی نیست.

— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) March 7, 2026

Trump escalated tensions on Saturday, posting on Truth Social:

“Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death… areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”

He also claimed the US had “knocked out 42 Iranian warships in three days,” while an Iranian army spokesman warned that any “enemy” ships entering the Gulf would end up “at the bottom of the sea.”

Pezeshkian rejected Trump’s demands: “That we surrender unconditionally is a dream that they must take with themselves to the grave. We adhere to international laws and humanitarian frameworks.”

The IRGC echoed the president’s stance:

“We respect the interests and sovereignty of neighbouring countries. However, should hostile actions continue, all military bases and interests of the US and the Zionist regime in the region will come under powerful and crushing strikes by the Iranian armed forces.”

Missile strikes in Israel

Sirens sounded in northern Israel, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv as Iranian missiles struck the region.

صور ترصد صاروخا انشطاريا والمقذوفات الناتجة عنه في سماء حيفا أُطلقت من إيران#الأخبار pic.twitter.com/KHORMklWHU

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) March 7, 2026

The IRGC announced a combined drone and missile operation targeting US and Israeli installations, claiming that Haifa was hit with new solid-fuel ‘Kheibar Shekan’ missiles, capable of guided strikes.

 Regional and international reactions

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned that developments posed serious risks to regional peace.

The U.S. committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted.

Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 7, 2026

Representing the Organisation of Turkic States, he emphasized that any attack on a member state would be a concern for all. The bloc includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkiye, and Uzbekistan, with Hungary, Turkmenistan, and Northern Cyprus as observers.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the evacuation of embassy families in Lebanon and other Iranians due to escalating threats, following Israeli warnings against Iranian personnel in Beirut.

US miscalculations ‘immediately killed’ Iran’s readiness

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country’s openness to de-escalation was “immediately killed” by US miscalculations.

President Pezeshkian expressed openness to de-escalation within our region-provided that our neighbors' airspace, territory, and waters are not used to attack the Iranian People. Gesture to our neighbors was almost immediately killed by President Trump.

My statement: pic.twitter.com/tnyCWTTqaj

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 7, 2026

He warned that further escalation would be the responsibility of the Trump administration and highlighted US military losses of personnel and $100 billion during the week-long confrontation.

“This is a war of choice pursued by a small cabal of ‘Israel Firsters’, and ‘Israel First’ always means ‘America Last’,” Araghchi stated.

Explosions in Iraq

AFP journalists reported explosions in Baghdad and Erbil, including near the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, which houses the US embassy. In Erbil, at least three loud explosions followed a drone sighting.

UAE responds

The President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, addressed the nation, asserting that the UAE was in a time of war but prepared.

رئيس الدولة يؤكد أن دولة الإمارات تضع أمنها وسلامة شعبها والمقيمين فيها وزوارها في مقدمة أولوياتها، وسموّه يتوجه بالشكر للقوات المسلحة والأجهزة الأمنية والفرق الوطنية على جهودهم، مشيداً بوعي أفراد المجتمع من الإماراتيين والمقيمين الذين عبَّروا عن حبهم للدولة. pic.twitter.com/UXmAA9EPXv

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) March 7, 2026

“The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh — we are no easy prey,” he said. He assured protection for all residents, including foreign nationals, amid Iran’s missile strikes on Gulf targets.

Tensions in the region escalated last week after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, triggering sustained Iranian retaliation across the Gulf, broadening the regional conflict and prompting heightened diplomatic and military alertness.

 More from Israel’s latest military claims

In a statement, the army says targets hit in Iran included missile storage sites, ballistic missile launchers and military facilities linked to Iran’s security forces.

סיכום פעילות צה"ל בגזרות השונות במהלך סוף השבוע
תוך 48 שעות: הותקפו יותר מ-300 מטרות טרור באיראן ויותר מ-170 מטרות טרור בלבנון

לכל הפרטים: https://t.co/hrrtqsiTUG pic.twitter.com/liwyol6Yyz

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 7, 2026

In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah missile launchers, weapons depots and military sites in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

It also said Hezbollah commanders were killed in Beirut and that a Hamas commander was killed near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Israel did not say how many people it killed in the strikes, while the claims could not immediately be independently verified.

Countries hosting US bases in region will not know peace

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says on X that countries hosting US bases in the region “will not enjoy peace”.

He also said that the attack against the Qeshm desalination plant, blamed earlier on the US by Iran’s foreign minister, was “carried out with the support of one of the air bases in the southern neighboring countries”.

“This blatant crime will receive a proportionate response. American military bases in the region have become platforms for operations against Iran”, he added. “The origin of any attack is the destination of our response.”

 Iranian clerics seek swift naming of new supreme leader

A demonstrator holds an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after he was killed in Israeli and US strikes on Saturday.

عضو مجلس خبرگان رهبری: تا ۲۴ ساعت آینده جلسهٔ انتخاب رهبر برگزار می‌شود

— خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) March 7, 2026

Two influential and strict Iranian clerics have called for the swift selection of a new supreme leader to help guide the nation amid a new wave of United States and Israeli strikes, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump has said ⁠the US should have a role in choosing the new leader, a demand Iran has rejected.

Naser Makarem Shirazi, a grand ayatollah, which means he commands a broad following for his religious rulings, said an appointment was needed swiftly to "help better organise the country’s affairs", state media reported.

Last week, two senior religious authorities also issued fatwas, or religious decrees, calling on Muslims around the world to avenge the killing of Khamenei. Makarem Shirazi said it was a ⁠religious duty for Muslims "until the evil of these criminals is eradicated from the world".

Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani also urged members of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body charged with choosing the new leader, to accelerate the process of picking ⁠Khamenei's successor, state media reported.

Following rules laid out in Iran's constitution, a three-man council comprising the president, a senior cleric and the head of the judiciary, has taken ⁠on the supreme leader's role until the Assembly of Experts decides.

The constitution states a supreme leader should be chosen within three months, although with ⁠war raging, it is not immediately clear how quickly the 88-member Assembly of Experts can convene. Sources have said some clerics have held some consultations online.

Lebanon says Israeli attacks kill nearly 300 since Monday

Lebanon’s health ministry on Saturday said Israeli attacks on the country had killed almost 300 people since the start of the war with Hezbollah this week.

In a statement, the ministry said that “the death toll from the Israeli aggression, from dawn on Monday ... has risen to 294 martyrs and 1,023 wounded.”

Israel warned Lebanon of a “very heavy price” if it did not rein in Hezbollah on Saturday, as it pounded the group’s strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on Monday when Hezbollah fired at Israel, which responded with a new military campaign that has forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.

On Saturday morning, more buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut lay as mounds of smoking rubble and twisted metal, Reuters video showed, after heavy Israeli bombardment that followed an evacuation order for civilians.

’A night of hell’

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, addressing Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun in a statement, said that if the Lebanese government failed to enforce a 2024 agreement to disarm Hezbollah, it and the whole ⁠country would suffer.

לוחמינו הגיבורים יצאו הלילה למבצע מיוחד לאיתורו והשבתו של הנווט רון ארד שנפל בשבי בלבנון לפני כ-40 שנה.

במשך שנים ארוכות אנו עוסקים במשימה זו ללא הרף.

הפעולה שבוצעה הלילה לא הביאה את הממצאים אותם חיפשנו, אך המחויבות של מדינת ישראל והמחויבות שלי להשלמת כל משימות השבויים והנעדרים…

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 7, 2026

“If ⁠the choice is between protecting our civilians and our soldiers or protecting the state of Lebanon — we will choose the protection of our civilians and soldiers, and the Lebanese government and Lebanon will pay a very heavy price,” Katz said.

Overnight, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near the town of Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley in a rare airborne operation.

Israel’s military said the troops had staged the operation to seek the remains ⁠of Ron Arad, an Israeli air force navigator missing in Lebanon since 1986. However, no findings related to him were recovered, it said.

Hezbollah said in a statement overnight that it had fired on Israeli troops dropped near Nabi Chit by four helicopters, and that the troops had withdrawn. The Israeli military said none of its forces was injured.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 41 people had been killed in the last 24 hours in Israeli attacks in the Nabi Chit area. The Lebanese army said three of its personnel were among the dead.

Shawki Al-Masri, who lives in a town adjacent to Nabi Chit, described the overnight bombing in the area as “a night of hell”.

“We heard the helicopters over our house all night — they were so low we thought they would land on us,” he told Reuters.

“People in the town woke up and started shooting at them, then the warplanes started bombing. ⁠It was a very ⁠violent night and only calmed down when the sun came up,” he said.

Israeli orders to evacuate have displaced around 300,000 people, only a third of whom are now living in government shelters.

A senior United Nations official described the displacement as “unprecedented” in comments to Reuters on Friday.

Hezbollah warns Israelis near border to flee

Hezbollah has also warned Israeli citizens living in communities near the border to flee their homes, though Katz said on Saturday they should not do so. Many northern Israeli communities were evacuated during cross-border bombardment in 2023-24.

Also on Saturday, Hezbollah issued a more specific warning, telling residents of the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona to evacuate immediately and head south.

The United Nations on Saturday warned that the conflict was set to get “even worse” and that talks between Israel and Lebanon “must be pursued with urgency” to end hostilities.

Its Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that it was “clear that ongoing military actions will not deliver a lasting win to anyone”.

“They will only deepen instability and inflict further suffering,” she said.

 Kuwait declares force majeure, cuts crude oil output

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) began cutting oil output on Saturday and declared force majeure, adding to earlier oil and gas reductions from Iraq and Qatar as the US-Iran war blocked shipments from the Middle East for the eighth consecutive day.

The war has blocked the world's most important oil artery, the Strait of Hormuz, which is responsible for 20% of ⁠global oil and LNG supply.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announces that in light of the ongoing aggression by the Islamic Republic of Iran against the State of Kuwait, including Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, KPC has implemented a precautionary reduction in… pic.twitter.com/tOmwNK7ykk

— KPC | مؤسسة البترول الكويتية (@kpcofficialkw) March 7, 2026

Analysts predict the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will have to also cut output soon as they run out of oil storage.

KPC declared force majeure, according to a trade notice seen by Reuters, after it implemented a reduction in crude oil production and refining throughput because of the conflict in the Middle East.

The national oil company did not say by how much it would reduce output. In February, Kuwait produced around 2.6 million barrels per day of crude oil.

It said the reduction was precautionary and would be reviewed ⁠as the situation develops, and it remained ready to restore production levels when conditions allow.

KPC declared force majeure because of what it said were explicit threats by Iran against the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, continuing attacks by Iran on Kuwait and the "almost total absence" within ⁠the Arabian Gulf of vessels available to ship crude oil and products, the notice showed.

The company declined to comment on the notice.