The Israeli military says its forces have launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early on Sunday. A brief statement said Israeli forces were “currently conducting strikes on Iranian terror regime targets in the heart of Tehran”.
Iranian ballistic missile barrages wounded about 100 people in southern Israel on Saturday, striking the cities of Arad and Dimona after air defence systems failed to intercept at least two projectiles. Among the injured were a 12-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, both reported to be in serious condition. Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 reported early indications of possible fatalities, though there was no official confirmation. Officials said at least 27 people were wounded in Dimona, including a teenager who sustained severe injuries from shrapnel. In Arad, at least 68 people were injured, including 10 in serious condition and 14 moderately hurt. The remainder were treated for lighter injuries. A mass-casualty incident was declared at Soroka hospital in Beersheba, as emergency teams responded to multiple impact sites. Magen David Adom’s chief executive, Eli Bin, said some people were believed to be trapped in damaged buildings in Arad. He described the scene as “an event of enormous magnitude”, adding that there were concerns for individuals who remained unaccounted for. According to preliminary assessments, one of the missiles – reportedly carrying a conventional warhead weighing several hundred kilograms – struck between residential buildings, causing structural damage and igniting fires in surrounding properties. Footage circulating online appeared to show the missile impact occurring seconds after warning sirens were activated, though the timing could not be independently verified. The Israeli air force said it had opened an investigation into the apparent failure to intercept the missile that struck Arad. A parallel inquiry has been launched by the Home Front Command into the circumstances of the impact. “The air defence systems operated but did not intercept the missile. We will investigate the incident and learn from it. This is not a special or unfamiliar type of munition,” the IDF spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin posted on X. Defrin said: “Our hearts are with the residents of Arad and Dimona tonight.” Unverified reports suggested one building had partially collapsed with people inside, while another caught fire, raising fears the death toll could rise as rescue operations continue. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement on the “very difficult evening in the campaign for our future” after the strike in Arad. “We will continue to strike our enemies on all fronts with determination,” he said. The Israeli air force and Home Front Command are also examining an earlier strike in Dimona, a city in the Negev desert, 30km to the south-east of Beersheba and home to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center, widely believed to be at the heart of Israel’s undeclared nuclear programme. Earlier in the evening, Iranian state-linked media said the strikes on Dimona were carried out in response to alleged attacks by the US and Israel on nuclear facilities in Bushehr and Natanz. Israel has denied carrying out any strike on Natanz. “The enemy has once again received an unforgettable lesson,” Iran’s Tasnim news agency said, in a statement that could not be independently verified. “No area is safe from Iranian missiles.” The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was aware of reports that a projectile had struck the city but had received no indication of damage to the nuclear facility. The agency added that no abnormal radiation levels had been detected and that it was continuing to monitor the situation. The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme and was already damaged in last year’s June war. The UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, repeated a “call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident” after the strike on Natanz. In Israel air raid sirens were triggered multiple times in Dimona overnight, underscoring the ongoing threat. Earlier this week, Israel’s Home Front Command had eased some wartime restrictions in parts of the country, including Dimona, allowing schools and other educational institutions to reopen.
The foreign secretary has condemned Iran’s strikes on a joint US-UK military base on the island of Diego Garcia, while stressing the UK has “taken a different position from the US and Israel” on the conflict. Yvette Cooper said ministers wanted to see a swift resolution to the war, adding the government was supporting defensive action against the “reckless Iranian threats”. Iran fired the missiles after warning that British lives were “in danger” after the prime minister authorised the US to carry out further strikes from British bases. Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the Chagos island but neither hit, the Iranian news agency Mehr reported. One of the missiles was shot down by a US warship, while the other failed in flight, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing multiple officials. If the salvo had reached its target it would have been the longest-range Iranian strike yet. Before the war, according to the US Congressional Research Service, Washington was aware of Iranian missiles that could reach 3,000km. Cooper told broadcasters on Saturday: “We have continued to support defensive action to support UK interests, including defensive action against ballistic missile threats. “But we want to see as swift as possible a resolution to this conflict. Our approach to this conflict has been the same throughout. “We were not and continue not to be involved in offensive action, and we’ve taken a different view from the US and Israel on this. “But we are supporting defensive action to support our interests. That includes recognising Iran’s escalating threats to international shipping, as well as their threats to our Gulf partners.” The Ministry of Defence, which described US use of British bases as “limited and defensive” in nature, earlier called the attacks “reckless”. A spokesperson said: “Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies. “RAF jets and other UK military assets are continuing to defend our people and personnel in the region. “This government has given permission to the US to use British bases for specific and limited defensive operations.” Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, is about 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran and home to an airbase capable of accommodating long-range US bombers. The island has been at the centre of a political row after the UK agreed to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius and lease back the base. Ministers gave the US permission to strike Iranian missile sites targeting the strait of Hormuz from UK bases including Diego Garcia on Friday afternoon. Previously, UK bases were being used only to strike Iranian sites targeting British allies and interests in Gulf states. Iran reacted angrily, with its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claiming it would “exercise its right to self-defence”. Posting on X, he said: “Vast majority of the British People do not want any part in the Israel-US war of choice on Iran. “Ignoring his own People, Mr Starmer is putting British lives in danger by allowing UK bases to be used for aggression against Iran. Iran will exercise its right to self-defence.” The US president, Donald Trump, said the UK “should have acted a lot faster” in giving the US permission. He has already piled pressure on Nato allies, calling them “cowards” for refusing to offer warships to reopen the strait. The UK government had previously granted the US permission only for “defensive” action. When that decision was made, RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by an Iranian drone. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, described the prime minister’s latest move as the “mother of all U-turns” in a post on X. Badenoch later added that the UK was being “dragged into” the conflict. “Today we’re hearing that they’ve been firing missiles on Diego Garcia. The sad thing is, whether we like it or not, we’re being dragged into it and what we need is a prime minister who can think ahead,” she told Times Radio. The Liberal Democrats and the Green party said granting further permission for the US to use British bases must first be put to a parliamentary vote. In a phone call on Saturday, Keir Starmer reaffirmed to the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides, that RAF Akrotiri will not be used by the US to target Iranian missile sites. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister began by underscoring that as close partners and friends, Cyprus’s security was of utmost importance to the UK. “The prime minister reiterated that RAF Akrotiri would not be involved in the UK’s continuation of its agreement with the US to use UK bases in collective self-defence of the region, including for the degrading of Iranian missile capabilities. “Discussing the economic impact of the ongoing conflict, the leaders agreed that de-escalation in the region was the priority.” Starmer will hold a Cobra meeting next week to discuss plans to help households with the cost of living caused by the war, it is understood. Countries including the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Australia condemned Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels as well as oil and gas facilities in the Middle East in a joint statement. “The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable,” the 22 signatories said. Starmer has also spoken to the crown prince of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, to discuss the war, Downing Street said. A spokesperson said: “The prime minister outlined the UK’s latest support for Bahrain, including deploying a team of experts to help counter drone attacks. “Both condemned Iran’s ongoing attacks on critical national infrastructure and the strait of Hormuz. The prime minister updated on the US use of UK bases in the collective self-defence of the region, including to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack shipping. “The prime minister welcomed Bahrain joining the growing list of signatories to the UK-led joint statement condemning Iran’s attacks and calling for de-escalation.”
When Israeli and American missiles first started falling on Tehran, and as news of the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leaked out, Nasser, a sixtysomething Iranian American dad from Boston who regularly travels to Iran, briefly experienced something akin to optimism. He “felt a flash of hope”, he told me, “or maybe vengeance, when Khamenei and his circle were hit”. It was a common sentiment among the millions of Iranians in the North American diaspora who have, for multiple reasons, come to reject the rule of the velayat-e-faqih, or the “guardianship of the Islamic jurist”, the Islamic Republic’s governing doctrine. Many Iranians inside and outside the country had just recently held Khamenei directly responsible for the horrific bloodshed during the mass protests in January. If the top leadership of the Islamic republic was decapitated, perhaps, many believed, Iran could forge a different future. But now, after three weeks of all-out war on his homeland and with thousands of dead Iranians, damage to cultural heritage sites, and seeming randomness of missile attacks in cities, that hope has disappeared. “Now,” he tells me, “I feel sick about it.” (The Guardian is using pseudonyms for the people quoted in this story, who asked for anonymity because of possible retribution against family inside Iran.) With America’s ever-changing stated objectives in Iran, the war it finally initiated after months of threats has elicited a range of emotions for Iranians in the diaspora, estimated today to number more than 4 million, with the majority in North America (followed by Europe and the UAE). “As my thoughts settled,” Ali, an American-born fortysomething New Yorker told me, “I wanted to spit hot fire at the ne’er-do-well royalists cheering the destruction of a country I might now never get to visit even the vestiges of. I have anger, righteous anger.” Nasser and Ali’s views are not necessarily representative of this entire population. There have been waves of emigration from Iran in the decades following the Islamic revolution – some emigrated recently; others can trace their heritage to Iran but have little connection to the land. The diaspora is, as such, by no means uniform or homogenous, and depending on when Iranians left their homeland and their social or financial status, they hold varying political views and ideas of what they would like to see Iran become. They are young and old, asylees filled with anger at the regime for their exile; they are either ambivalent politically or fully engaged; they are Iranians who sought a better life for themselves and their children. Many of those divisions can be found within the same families. Friday was Nowruz, the Persian new year, which this year fell on Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. But Iranians in the diaspora, whatever their politics, are in no mood for celebrating. The regime’s brutal response to widespread protests in January, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent protesters, shocked Iranians everywhere, and the violence since meted out by Israeli American bombs has further traumatized them, even those who might have initially supported military intervention. Feelings are decidedly less mixed among those who actively seek the return of the American-backed monarchy toppled in 1979. In the absence of credible polling, it is impossible to know how many Iranians in the diaspora share this view, but they are certainly a vocal minority, and they don’t tend to express much anguish over the war or the resulting death toll. On social media, they champion former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who has declared himself “uniquely positioned” to lead the country. (Tellingly, the only condolences he offered are for the families of the first Americans killed in the war – nothing to the families of Iranian victims.) In a sign of the painful divisiveness within the diaspora community, an anti-regime and anti-Pahlavi activist was allegedly murdered in Canada recently. Two diehard monarchists who have not yet entered pleas were arrested in connection with the killing. Then there are those who aren’t necessarily supporters of Pahlavi, or even a reinstated monarchy, but would take him over the current regime any day. I hear this view from people inside Iran, and after the 12-day war in July of last year, I heard it from a ninetysomething father of friends who lives between the US east coast, London and Tehran. “Why not Reza?” he said to me. “Khak bar sare-moun (“dirt on our heads”, or “shame on us”) for allowing our country to come to this.” When I suggested that Pahlavi’s support for Israel, a country that had just bombed and killed more than 1,000 Iranians, might be disqualifying for many Iranians inside Iran, he responded: “So what? What has this regime’s support of Russia or others done for us?” Like many older Iranians whose families are settled in America, he and his wife hope to live to see Iran free of a regime that they believe has brought their country to ruin. They may have, like my own family, mixed feelings about the excesses of the Shah’s reign, but also memories of a proud and respected nation they still love. ‘What good can come of this?’ The first wave of Iranian emigrants to Europe and the US arrived either immediately before the Islamic revolution or soon thereafter. Subsequent waves were comprised of people escaping the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and the possibility that their sons would be conscripted into an army that was losing thousands of soldiers a day; students electing to remain in the countries where they studied rather than return to uncertain economic opportunities back home; and people who had families abroad or who were keen to join flourishing communities of Iranians in places such as Los Angeles or Toronto. And, of course, there were many secular Iranians – mostly from urban Iran – who have always been a sizeable population and who over the years got tired of living in a theocratic state. The diaspora is, as such, by no means uniform or homogenous, and members’ views on the Islamic Republic and the best course for the country tend to depend, at least somewhat, on when they left their homeland and their socioeconomic status. That means that today, Iranians – at home or in the diaspora – can be monarchist (constitutional or authoritarian), socialist, republican, Islamist or Marxist – indeed, of every possible political stripe, ranging from the fascist right to the communist left. Iranians in southern California tend to be the most virulent in their anti-regime sentiments – this goes back to the early 1980s, which saw regular anti-regime demonstrations in front of the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard in LA. Canada, with lenient immigration policies in the late 90s and early aughts, is home to a growing Iranian diaspora that, over time, has become more outspoken in their denunciation of the Iranian regime. So today, some of the largest anti-Islamic regime demonstrations anywhere in the world happen in Toronto. For many, opposition to the bombing comes not from any love for the Iranian regime, but from a generally anti-imperialist sentiment that took hold in Iran in the aftermath of the 1953 British American coup that overthrew the prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Donna Miles, an outspoken Iranian-Kiwi journalist active on X days into the war wrote: “Never forget that all this death and destruction is so the US can install a puppet leader in Iran and control its oil, just like they did in 1953.” Enough Iranians heard Donald Trump declare in the aftermath of the previous supreme leader’s death that he would have to approve the next leader, and have noted his general fondness for the oil and precious minerals of other countries – be they in Venezuela or Greenland – for some to conclude that the war is not about bringing democracy to the people. But for many, the fear and dread doesn’t necessarily fit within a political framework, but stem simply from the horror of the destruction. “Looking forward, I’m despondent,” Ali said. “What good can come of this? An Iran liberated into its own ruin?” Nasser echoed his fears. “Iran will be poorer, hungrier, and more frightened,” he said. “I do not expect a wave of protests soon. Who would dare? Even dissidents warn that bombing is not the same thing as liberation.” That there are disparate voices that express complex and even conflicting feelings about what is happening to their country should not be surprising. For Iranians who have suffered under the yoke of a cruel regime, it is understandable that the first reaction to the deaths of the leaders of that regime would be satisfaction, if not outright joy. But that has given way as the war drags on, the civilian death toll climbs, and as it becomes apparent that there is no rhyme or reason as to how it’s being conducted. So today, little actual joy can be found among Iranians in the diaspora, even those who continue to dismiss warnings about the human cost of the war and who believe it will all have been worth it. Some of them are joyless because they worry openly about the reality of regime collapse. Others cannot abide seeing cultural heritage sites being damaged, and others worry about infrastructure damage and destruction. Yet others worry about a “victory” that leaves the regime intact and more oppressive than before. Inside families and communities, the joyless are arguing among themselves. Fred, a retired Jewish Iranian American businessman who left Iran in 1980 and now lives in Los Angeles, wrote to me on WhatsApp this week about his feelings on the war that Israel and America wage on his country of birth: “You know, I’m not political nor do I really know English (well), but sincerely, my heart burns for the innocent children and their mothers and fathers.”
The US-Israel war on Iran is a disaster for the climate, according to an analysis that finds it is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined. As warplanes, drones and missiles kill thousands of people, level infrastructure and turn the Middle East into a gigantic environmental sacrifice zone, the first analysis of the climate cost has found the conflict led to 5m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in its first 14 days. The analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, adds another layer on to reporting of the catastrophic environmental harm being caused by attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure, military bases, civilian areas and ships at sea. “Every missile strike is another downpayment on a hotter, more unstable planet, and none of it makes anyone safer,” said Patrick Bigger, a research director at the Climate and Community Institute and a co-author of the analysis. “Every refinery fire and tanker strike is a reminder that fossil‑fuelled geopolitics is incompatible with a livable planet. This war shows, yet again, that the fastest way to supercharge the climate crisis is to let fossil fuel interests dictate foreign policy.” The US-Israeli axis claims to have bombed thousands of targets inside Iran, and Israel has hit hundreds more targets in Lebanon. Reports from inside both countries show extensive destruction of infrastructure. Destroyed buildings constitute the largest element of the estimated carbon cost. Based on reports by the Iranian Red Crescent humanitarian organisation that about 20,000 civilian buildings have been damaged by the conflict, the analysis estimates the total emissions from this sector to be 2.4m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e). Fuel is the second biggest element, with US heavy bombers flying from as far away as the west of England to carry out raids over Iran. The analysis estimates between 150m and 270m litres of fuel were consumed by aircraft and support vessels and vehicles in the first 14 days, producing a total emission of 529,000 tCO2e. One of the most shocking images of the war has been the dark clouds and black rain that fell over Tehran after Israel bombed four major fuel storage depots surrounding the city, setting millions of litres of fuel ablaze. The analysis estimates that between 2.5m and 5.9m barrels of oil have been burned in that attack and similar strikes – including Iranian retaliations on its Gulf neighbours – emitting an estimated 1.88m tCO2e. In the first 14 days, the US lost four aircraft, while Iran lost 28 aircraft, 21 naval vessels and about 300 missile launchers. This destroyed military hardware is estimated to account for embodied carbon emissions of 172,000 tCO2e. There are also the bombs, missiles and drones themselves, the use of which has been extensive on all sides. Based on claims that in the first 14 days the US and Israel had bombed more than 6,000 targets inside Iran, while Iran had fired back about 1,000 missiles and 2,000 drones, plus an estimated 1,900 interceptors fired to defend against them, the analysis estimated that munitions contributed about 55,000 tCO2e in emissions. In total, the first two weeks of the conflict led to emissions of 5,055,016 tCO2e, equivalent to 131,430,416 tCO2e in a year – roughly the same as a medium-size, fossil fuel-intensive economy such as Kuwait. But it is also the same as the 84 lowest emitting countries combined. Fred Otu-Larbi, the study’s lead author, from the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana, said: “We expect emissions to increase rapidly as the conflict proceeds, mainly due to the speed [at] which oil facilities are being targeted at an alarming rate.” He added: “We all need to live with the climate aftermaths. Just what are the costs, no one really knows, that is why studies like this are so vital. Burning up the annual emissions of Iceland in two weeks is something we really cannot afford.” As of June last year, climate scientists estimated humans could emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 130bn tonnes of CO2 to leave us with a 50% chance of stopping the climate from heating beyond 1.5C. At the present rate of 40bn tCO2e that budget will be exhausted by 2028. Bigger said the disruption to fossil fuel supplies caused by the war would probably lead to more drilling. “Historically, every US‑driven energy shock has been followed by a surge in new drilling, new LNG terminals and new fossil‑fuel infrastructure. This war risks hard‑wiring another generation of carbon dependence. “This is not a war for security. It’s a war for the political economy of fossil fuels – and the people paying the price are Iranian civilians and working‑class communities around the world.”
Sohrab Faqiri spent Eid, the Muslim festival to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, looking for the grave of his brother, killed in a massive Pakistan airstrike on Kabul this week. Pakistan’s bombardment campaign, on what it says is terrorist and military infrastructure in neighbouring Afghanistan, appeared to have gone catastrophically wrong. A rehabilitation centre for drug addicts was hit on Monday night, according to the United Nations and the Afghan authorities. The UN’s preliminary death toll is 143 people, while the Taliban administration puts the figure at more than 400 dead. Faqiri’s brother, Qais, a tailor and father of a 10-year-old boy, was being treated for the last three months at the facility, called Omid or “Hope”. Faqiri rushed there after the airstrike, but could not find him among the survivors. He spent the next two days visiting hospitals in Kabul, but there was no sign of Qais. Then, by chance, he saw a video of a mass burial by the authorities of the airstrike victims and spotted his brother. On Thursday – marked as Eid in Afghanistan – he went to the hillside graveyard on the edge of Kabul, where the burial took place. There, he found rows of stones planted along lines of upturned earth. But there were no names to identify any of the bodies. “Worst of all is that his grave is not known to us,” Faqiri said, speaking at the cemetery, bursting into tears. “This is the saddest moment, for a person on Eid day to search for the body of his brother.” He has not had the heart yet to tell their mother. The attack took place just as patients returned to their dormitories after gathering for Tarawih, the special prayers said at night during Ramadan, when worshippers ask for forgiveness of their sins. Wali Nazir Mohammad, 23, was tired after the prayers and went to his bed, in one of the smaller buildings which accommodated about 20 patients in a single room. When the explosion woke him, the room and some of his fellow patients were on fire. Many in the room were dead and others were screaming for help. His waist and leg were in severe pain. He said that the room had not been hit directly, but shrapnel came through the walls, slicing into him. Around half an hour later, an ambulance took him to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, one of Kabul’s main medical facilities. He said one of the big buildings had taken a direct hit. “I have a message for our government: please take our revenge,” Mohammad said, speaking from his hospital bed. “If the government cannot take our revenge, I ask them to give us weapons.” Juma Khan Nael, from the Afghan Red Crescent Society, part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said many of the patients had finished their treatment and were due to be discharged the following day. He said the fire ignited by the bombing could be seen for miles. “That fire was unthinkable, it could not be controlled, no one could help those trapped by it,” he said. When Nael arrived at the site on the morning after the bombing, rescue workers were still digging through the debris. They were finding hands, feet and pieces of flesh, not whole bodies. The smell of burnt meat hung in the air. Maisam Shafiey, from the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, said when he got to the scene the next morning, smoke was still rising, while in another part of the site, some patients remained. Shafiey believed many of the victims had been together in one large structure. “A big building was hit. There’s nothing there now. The roof had collapsed. Everything was rubble,” he said. Afghan authorities say 408 were killed and 265 injured. Islamabad, which maintains that it struck a military target, says that terrorists attacking Pakistan are being harboured by the Taliban. Georgette Gagnon, the deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, expected her organisation’s death toll to rise. She said “several hundred” appeared to have been killed and injured. She said the drug treatment centre was within a facility run by the Afghan de facto administration. Before 2015, the location was a US military base. “We call on the parties to de-escalate and re-commit to a ceasefire,” she said. Dejan Panic, the country director of Emergency, an Italian NGO which runs a major hospital in Kabul, said he had heard two loud detonations; the airstrike took place about six miles away across the city. The hospital received 24 wounded and three dead bodies that night, with many having shell injuries – metal shrapnel entering their bodies. These days, such injuries were rare in Afghanistan, Panic said, compared with the war years before the 2021 Taliban takeover. One man had broken his thigh bone jumping out of a second-floor window to escape the fire. Another was in danger of bleeding to death with a severed femoral artery, which carries blood to the legs, but was brought to the hospital in time to be operated on. The less-injured patients told Panic they were happy about their treatment at the rehab facility. Drug addicts were a common sight in Kabul before the Taliban seized power, but have been taken off the streets. At the Omid centre, patients were being taught skills such as carpentry, tailoring and electrical work. “The patients said that they were getting good food, clothes, and a second chance in life,” said Panic.
Donald Trump said he was considering “winding down” military operations in the Middle East even as the US is reportedly sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional marines to the region. The US president’s remarks on Friday followed an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide and another day of the airstrikes and drone and missile attacks that have engulfed the region. The US is reportedly considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran’s strategically crucial Kharg Island to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz. On Friday, Trump sent out mixed messages about the possibility of the three-week-old war abating. He first ruled out reaching a ceasefire agreement with Iran, saying Washington has the upper hand. “I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he told journalists at the White House. However, later on Friday night, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that the US was considering “winding down” military operations in Iran. “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” he wrote. The reports that Washington is considering plans to occupy or blockade Kharg Island come despite earlier suggestions by Trump that he was not leaning towards putting “boots on the ground”. Any attempt physically to occupy Kharg Island would probably entail high risks, exposing American forces there to Iranian drone and rocket fire in a geographically confined space. Just 8 sq miles (20 sq km) in size and situated 16 miles (25km) from the Iranian city of Bushehr at the northern end of the Gulf, the Kharg Island terminal exports about 90% of Iranian oil and is supplied by pipes from nearby offshore fields. Iran is heavily dependent on revenue from fossil fuels, and any attempt to seize such a key strategic asset would almost certainly be resisted. Writing on social media on Friday, Trump said: “Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” The Pentagon has already deployed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-response force of about 2,200 marines, to the Middle East. Military officials have not said what missions the marines being sent to the Middle East would be assigned to carry out. Officials said that the assault ship USS Boxer, with the Marine Expeditionary Unit onboard, was also leaving the US about three weeks before schedule. It is not clear what their mission is. The Trump administration and its Israeli allies have given contradictory briefings about their intentions in the war. Descriptions of plans appear to change on an almost daily basis, reflected in statements by administration officials grappling with a war whose consequences have spiralled beyond their control. A White House official said: “As President Trump said, he has no plans to send troops anywhere – but he wisely does not broadcast his military strategy to the media, and he retains all options as commander-in-chief. The United States military can take out Kharg Island at any time.” The war showed no signs of de-escalating on Friday, with an Iranian drone attack hitting a Kuwait refinery and the US and Israel striking 16 Iranian cargo vessels in port towns on the Gulf. “Following the American-Zionist air attack, at least 16 cargo vessels belonging to citizens of the towns of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kong were completely burned in the fire,” a local official from the southern Hormozgan province said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency. Heavy explosions also shook Dubai as air defences intercepted incoming rockets, as people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. Separately, Israel attacked Syrian government positions, only days after US officials had anonymously suggested using the same Syrian forces to disarm Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon. As violence continues across the region, from Tel Aviv and Haifa to the Caspian Sea, oil and gas prices are soaring and there are warnings of a spreading global economic shock that has been exacerbated by the increasingly incoherent messaging from Washington. As a fourth week of war approached, Kuwait said two waves of Iranian drone strikes hit its Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery, one of three oil refineries in the tiny, oil-rich country on the Gulf. The refinery, which can process about 730,000 barrels of oil a day, was already damaged on Thursday in another Iranian attack. Iran stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Gulf on Wednesday. Explosions could be heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned of incoming Iranian missiles. In a rare statement, Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded in the initial US-Israeli strikes, said Tehran’s enemies needed to have their “security” taken away. Khamenei has not been seen since he succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war. His remarks were part of a statement issued on his behalf and sent to the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, after Israel killed the intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, this week. The renewed attacks followed an intense day during which Iran hit energy infrastructure around the region and launched more than a dozen missile salvoes at Israel after the attack on South Pars. South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gasfield, is located offshore in the Gulf and is owned jointly with Qatar.