Closing summary
The Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East is coming to a close until tomorrow. Here’s a round-up of what happened today:
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has warned of a “more devastating” retaliation if Israel’s attacks against Iran continues, adding that Iran would not halt its nuclear program “under any circumstances,” Agence France-Presse reports. Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme “cannot be taken away... by threats or war.”
Israel launched new strikes against southern Iran on Saturday, with its military saying that it is targeting the areas of Bandar Abbas where drone storage sites and a weapons facility is located. Israeli forces are “currently striking UAV storage facilities and a weapons facility in southwestern Iran in the area of Bandar Abbas,” a military statement said, Agence France-Presse reports.
The US military is moving B-2 bombers from mainland US to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on Saturday. The New York Times further reports that the bombers, which have a range of over 6,000 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 40,000 pounds to carry various conventional and nuclear weapons, took off from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri.
Yemen’s Houthis will target US ships in the Red Sea if Washington becomes involved in Israeli attacks on Iran, the group’s military spokesperson said on Saturday. “If the US gets involved in an attack and aggression against Iran with the Israeli enemy, the armed forces will target its ships and warships in the Red Sea,” the group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has asked the Trump administration to step in with an initial $30m so it can continue its much scrutinised and Israeli-backed aid distribution in Gaza. The funding application, obtained by AP, offers some of the first financial details about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and its work in the territory.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said it would be “very, very dangerous for everyone” if the United States becomes actively involved in the war with Israel. He spoke to reporters in Istanbul on his way home from talks in Geneva.
Israel’s military said on Saturday it had killed two top Iranian military officials in overnight strikes. An Israeli military official said on Saturday that Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps of al-Quds, the foreign branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, had been killed in a strike on a flat in the city of Qom, central Iran.
Iran launched a salvo of missiles at Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning. A building in central Israel caught fire after being hit by the shrapnel of an intercepted Iranian missile. Later on Saturday, a drone strike hit a residential building in north Israel, damaging the building. No casualties were reported from the missile barrage or the drone strike.
Protesters took to the streets of Baghdad, Iraq today in a rally in solidarity with Iran.
The protests took place in Shi’ite areas of the city. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is revered as religious authority by many Shi’ite Muslims.
There were protests today in Israel too, as demonstrators continued to demand an end to the war and the return of the Israeli hostages from Gaza.
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