Saudi Arabia confirms Iran targeted Riyadh, eastern region

A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Iran targeted Riyadh and the kingdom’s eastern region, adding that the attacks were repelled, reports Al Jazeera.

“These attacks cannot be justified under any pretext or in any way, and they came despite the Iranian authorities knowing that the Kingdom had confirmed that it would not allow its airspace and territory to be used to target Iran,” it added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the attack on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, a city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran, will “not go unanswered,” reports Al Jazeera.

According to state-run IRNA news outlet, the attack killed 53 students. Araghchi said the victims were all “innocent children”.

Just a few hours ago, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi was talking to US media about the real possibility of a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.

There has been a lot of dismay here in Geneva, where the talks were being held, and quite a few European nations have reacted, calling for de-escalation and restraint.

Iran had been warning about this, and its diplomats had told me that if a war broke out, Iran would not be showing restraint as it did in previous rounds.

What we are seeing now are attacks on US military personnel in the region, but we still have not seen reactions from Iranian-allied groups in places including Yemen and Iraq.

Reports saying Trump will deliver an address this morning are inaccurate, the White House says, adding that it has not given any guidance to the media on an address or remarks today.

A new round of missile interceptions could be seen in the Qatari capital Doha.

An Al Jazeera reported counted at least five blast.

White trails could be seen in the sky suggesting missiles were intercepted.

Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at Crisis Group, has told Al Jazeera the US-Israel attack appears to be an attempt to seize on the perception that Iran has been severely weakened in recent years.

“This is a war of choice. This is a war of opportunity, because Israel and the United States believe that the Islamic Republic is in a position of historic weakness,” he said.

Vaez noted that the US appears to want full capitulation from Iran, adding that “from the Iranian perspective, [this] is even more dangerous than suffering another US and Israeli strike.”

“There’s a lot of wishful thinking that by destabilising the Iranian regime, something better will come into place. But of course, we’ve seen this movie before in that part of the world. US regime change policies often end in grief,” he added.

A Qatari Defence Ministry official told Al Jazeera that an early warning radar in northern.

From where we are here in Ramallah, we can hear loud explosions of Israel’s defence system intercepting Iranian missiles.

Residents in Ramallah rely on Israeli sirens heard in the distance to know that there are incoming attacks, even though there are no bunkers in Palestinian homes.

So far, there have been no reports of injuries in Israel, even though on social media we have seen reports of direct impacts.

But we have very little footage of what is happening because the Israeli military has been very clear that reports and videos of direct impact are not allowed.

Certainly, we had not seen before this kind of intensity in sirens going off and warnings to take shelter for such prolonged periods. Israelis and Palestinians understand this is like nothing they’ve seen before.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that as Israel “braces for Iranian missile attacks”, its energy sector “has begun shifting into emergency mode, with refinery operations scaled back and parts of its natural gas infrastructure temporarily halted”.

It reported that Israel’s Bazan Group said it has partially shut down its Haifa refinery facilities, and Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen has ordered a temporary halt to some offshore gas platforms and is expected to declare a state of emergency in the natural gas sector.

A source in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said Iranian attacks on Israel, as well as on US bases and interests across the region, will “continue unabated”, Fars news agency is reporting.

US Senator Edward J Markey has called Trump’s military attack on Iran “illegal and unconstitutional”.

“It was not approved by Congress and holds dangers for all Americans. Trump’s illegal actions raise the threat of escalation into a wider regional war with grave risks for U.S. troops and civilians in the region. Trump has consistently exaggerated the imminence of Iran’s nuclear threat, even after insisting the United States ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program during his illegal Operation Midnight Hammer attack,” he said in a statement.

“Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted Iran is not enriching uranium. There was time for diplomacy before this attack, and there still is,” Markey added, calling for a diplomatic solution.


Explosion heard in Iran’s southeastern city of Chabahar

Oman’s Foreign Ministry warned the US-Israel attacks on Iran risk “the danger of the conflict expanding into consequences that cannot be rectified in the region”.

It further called on the UN Security Council to convene an urgent meeting to “impose a ceasefire and for the international community to take a clear stance in support of international law”.

It added that it affirmed the “right to states’ self-defence” in accordance with international law, while urging restraint and diplomacy.

Oman had been serving as a mediator in indirect US-Iran talks before the attacks.

Bahrain has announced its schools will switch to distance learning “until further notice”.

Bahrain is one of the regional countries that has been targeted by Iranian retaliation after it was targeted by US and Israeli attacks.

The Iranian minister of agriculture has announced an uninterrupted and complete supply and preparation of food items amid attacks on the country, Tasnim news agency reported.

According to the report, all necessary measures and forecasts have been made, so there are no shortages, especially in light of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the Persian New Year on March 20.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has held a phone call with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the recent Iranian attacks, UAE’s state news agency WAM reported.

“During the call, they discussed developments in the region and the blatant Iranian attacks that targeted the territory of the United Arab Emirates and a number of sisterly countries,” it added.

“His royal highness, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, expressed the kingdom’s condemnation of the attacks, its full solidarity and support for the United Arab Emirates, and its readiness to place all its capabilities at the disposal of the UAE in all the measures it takes.”

There has been some calm over the last couple of hours, but there have been very many intense strikes this morning, including here in the capital, Tehran, particularly the Pasteur district.

That’s a place where you have more government and military institutions, and also the presidential palace and the homes of some of the government’s leadership.

Across the country, many cities, probably up to 10 cities, have been targeted in all corners of Iran, and the Americans and Israelis have targeted military sites, strategic locations, but we haven’t heard much of a focus on the nuclear sites during this campaign today, and that matches the motto of this new campaign.

It’s not just [about] the nuclear capabilities of Iran, but also weakening the regime and taking out the missile capabilities of the country. US President Trump has promised that.

So now, we are seeing a campaign that is different from the one we saw in June.

Amid the attacks in the region, some top oil and trading companies have suspended shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports.

“Our ships will stay ‌put for several days,” one top executive ⁠at a major trading company told the Reuters news agency.

About 20 million barrels of crude oil and other fuel types travel through the arterial waterway, which passes between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, with any suspensions threatening major global disruptions.

Our correspondent is reporting that Erbil International Airport in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq has been targeted again.

The latest incident involved a drone which air defences intercepted and shot down.