Israel strikes Tehran fuel depots, Beirut hotel as Iran nears naming Khamenei successor

iranian language chairperson issues apologia to disconnect states but rejects Trump’s demands to surrender

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Why aren't there reporters in Iran? Answering your questions about war in the Middle East

The Associated Press

Pezeshkian warned Sunday that Iran may intensify strikes against U.S. Targets across the Middle East as the U.S.-Israeli air campaign continues to expand.

"When we are attacked, we have no choice but to respond. The more pressure they impose on us, the stronger our response will naturally be," Pezeshkian said in video comments Sunday. "Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has."

Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments toward his Gulf neighbours on Saturday.

Pezeshkian said Iran is not looking for a battle against neighbouring Arab countries, many of which host American military bases. "They are our brothers," he said, accusing the U.S. Of trying to pit the region's countries against one another.

Many Iranian attacks have gone beyond U.S. Bases in the region, striking energy facilities, hotels and cities.

Reuters

The clerical body charged with choosing Iran's next supreme leader could meet as soon as Sunday to name a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an attack early in the 

conflict, Iranian media reported.

A majority consensus over the successor has more ​or less been reached, said Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammad-mehdi Mirbaqeri, according to the Mehr news agency.

Another member of the council, Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, said in a video that a candidate had been selected based on Khamenei's guidance that Iran's top leader should be 

"hated by the enemy."

Reuters

The governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks in their countries on Saturday and early Sunday, with a huge fire engulfing a government office block in Kuwait. 

Kuwait's interior ministry said two of its officers were killed "while performing duties." 

Bahrain said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack had caused "material damage" to a desalination plant, though the country's electricity and water authority said the strike had not disrupted water supplies. 

It was the first time an Arab country has said Iran targeted a desalination facility during the conflict. On Saturday, Iran said a U.S. Attack had struck a freshwater desalination plant on its Qeshm Island, disrupting water supplies in 30 villages, calling it "a dangerous move with grave consequences." 

Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In an apparent attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized to neighbouring states for its attacks on U.S. Bases in those countries on Saturday.  His comments faced backlash from some hardliners in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate that Iran's military would respond firmly to attacks from U.S. Facilities.

Welcome to our live coverage on this ninth day of conflict in the Middle East. Fighting has spread across the region since Israel and the United States first struck Iran last week, and Tehran is moving closer to naming a successor to slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

Israeli and U.S. Strikes overnight hit oil depots and a logistics site in Tehran, killing four people. An Israeli strike early Sunday hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, which killed at least four other people — and has raised fears the conflict could expand further into Lebanon. 

Vital infrastructure is increasingly being targeted in the war. Iran has launched drones toward several Gulf Arab states, with Bahrain saying an attack damaged one of its desalination plants. The Israeli military has said it was not responsible for the strikes. 

The conflict, which began on Feb. 28 after joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, has already killed more than 1,300 people in Iran and hundreds more in Lebanon, according to officials.

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