No strikes on neighbours unless attacks from them, says Iran

FE Team | Published: March 07, 2026 23:03:59

TEHRAN, Mar 7 (AFP): Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that the country's neighbours would not be targeted unless attacks are launched from them during the war with Israel and the United States.
"The interim leadership council agreed yesterday that no more attacks will be made on neighbouring countries and no missiles will be fired unless an attack on Iran originates from those countries," said Pezeshkian in a speech broadcast on state TV.
The leadership council has been leading Iran since last week's killing of the Islamic republic's supreme leader, in the US and Israel strikes which triggered a Middle East war.
Iran's army said Saturday its navy had launched a wave of drone attacks targeting Israel as well as US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, as the regional war raged into its second week.
"The Iranian Navy targeted American bases and occupied territories with a massive wave of drone attacks," the army said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
It said the targets included the UAE's Al-Minhad base and another in Kuwait, as well as a "strategic facility" in Israel.
Later, the Revolutionary Guards said their forces also targeted Al-Dhafra air base in the UAE.
"In this attack, the American terrorists' air warfare centre, satellite communication centre, early warning radars, and fire control radars were hit," the Guards said in a statement, according to Tasnim news agency.
Israeli and US attacks on a central Iranian province killed at least eight people on Saturday, a provincial official said, as the regional war entered its second week.
"Eight citizens, including a woman, were martyred in these terrorist attacks," said Akbar Salehi, a security official at the governor's office in Isfahan province.
AFP could not independently verify the toll.
"American and Zionist regime fighter jets attacked areas of Isfahan city and seven other cities in the province," Salehi said, according to the Tasnim news agency.
He added that "80 houses were severely damaged" in the city of Isfahan as well as the Lenjan and Borkhar areas.
President Donald Trump suggested on Saturday the United States would hit Iran "very hard" and threatened to expand strikes to include new targets.
"Today Iran will be hit very hard!" Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform.
"Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran's bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time."
The US State Department earlier on Friday approved the sale of $151.8 million worth of munitions to Israel as the countries engage Iran in an escalating Middle East war.
The sale of 1,000-pound (470-kilogram) 12,000 bomb bodies was approved by the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, according to a press release.
"The proposed sale will improve Israel's capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats," the bureau said in a statement.
Hezbollah in Beirut on Saturday said it confronted Israeli troops that infiltrated an east Lebanon town overnight, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 16 killed in Israeli strikes on the area.
In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters had "observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction".
After landing and disembarking, the advancing troops "were engaged" by a group of Hezbollah fighters as they reached a cemetery in the town of Nabi Sheet, Hezbollah said.
"The clash escalated after the enemy force was exposed," it added, saying the Israeli troops launched intense strikes before evacuating.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A Hezbollah official in the Bekaa region, where Nabi Sheet is located, told AFP that the cemetery the Israelis raided belonged to the Shukr family.
Last month, Lebanese authorities charged four people with kidnapping Ahmad Shukr, whose brother Hassan is suspected of involvement in the 1986 capture of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, on behalf of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.
Arad is presumed dead, though his remains were never returned.
The Hezbollah official said it was not clear what the Israelis took from the cemetery.
An AFP correspondent in the area heard warplanes and intense gunfire throughout the night.
Lebanon's east, where Hezbollah holds sway, was subjected to heavy Israeli strikes on Friday, particularly Nabi Sheet, which was struck at least 13 times, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA).