TEHRAN/JERUSALEM/DUBAI/AMMAN/MANAMA – Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it attacked a refinery in Israel’s Haifa on Saturday night in retaliation for a US-Israeli strike on its own energy infrastructure.
In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said the Haifa refinery was hit by Kheibarshekan missiles in response to the attack.
Meanwhile, the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company said energy infrastructure in the country came under the US-Israeli attacks Saturday night.
A number of oil depots in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz were hit by missiles and caught fire, the company said, adding that firefighting teams are containing the fire.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday night it had struck several fuel storage complexes used by Iran’s military forces in Tehran.
The attack was carried out by the Israeli air force using precise intelligence, it added.
On Feb 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as many others, including some of the leader’s family members, high-ranking military commanders and civilians. Iran responded through several waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the Middle East.
Commenting on the attacks, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said on Saturday the United States and Israel aim to disintegrate and divide the country.
He called on US President Donald Trump to accept that he has made a mistake and been deceived by Israel.
“The Americans left a scar on the hearts of our people. We will not let go of them,” Larijani said.
US attack on desalination plant condemned
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday strongly condemned the US attack on a water desalination plant on Iran’s southern Qeshm Island.
He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X after the United States reportedly destroyed the facility with missiles launched from its Jufair base in Bahrain on Friday.
“The US committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted,” Araghchi said.
He added that attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a “dangerous move with grave consequences.”
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, said on his X account that the attack on the Qeshm desalination plant was carried out with support from one of the air bases in the southern neighboring countries.
Iran’s IRGC said on Saturday that it retaliated for the US attack by striking the US base in Bahrain with solid- and liquid-fuel precision-guided missiles.
An Iranian military spokesperson also said Saturday that “enemy ships” entering the Gulf will “end up at the bottom” of the waterway, according to multiple media reports.
Oil tankers hit
Meanwhile, in a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, Iran’s IRGC said Saturday that it has hit a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker as a US asset in the middle of the Gulf.
The IRGC identified the tanker as Louise P, saying it was hit with a drone around Saturday noon, the statement said.
It added the IRGC has earlier announced that all Israeli and US assets in the West Asia region would be considered as legitimate targets for the Iranian armed forces.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that the IRGC hit an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning.
The report said the “violating” oil tanker, sailing under the commercial name Prima, was struck by a drone after it failed to pay attention to frequent warnings issued by the IRGC’s Navy about the prohibition of movement across the Strait of Hormuz due to security reasons.
Netanyahu: Attacks to continue with ‘full force’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a live broadcast statement on Saturday that Israel’s attack on Iran will continue with “full force and uncompromising momentum.”
Israel has a well-prepared plan with many surprises to undermine “Iranian regime” and “enable change,” Netanyahu said.
The IDF said in a statement on Saturday that it struck two main ballistic missile production sites in Iran.
The two sites, located in Parchin and Shahrud, were struck by hundreds of Israeli fighter jets, guided by intelligence, it said.
During the strike in Parchin, southeast of Tehran, on Thursday, the IDF struck infrastructure used for the production of essential components for the development of various weapons, the statement said.
In the strike in Shahrud, north-central Iran, on Friday night, the IDF struck a ballistic missile production site of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Also on Saturday, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prioritizes the security and protection of all citizens, residents and visitors and is fully prepared to confront current threats.
In a post on social media platform X, Sheikh Mohamed expressed thanked the UAE Armed Forces, security services and national institutions for their efforts to safeguard the country.
Debris from an aerial interception fell on a vehicle in Dubai’s Al Barsha area, killing an Asian driver, authorities said on Saturday.
In a post on social media platform X, the Dubai Media Office said the incident followed a successful interception operation by air defense systems.
In Amman, Jordan’s authorities said Saturday that Iran had targeted Jordanian territory with 119 missiles and drones, with 108 of them intercepted and destroyed, since the start of the Iranian retaliatory attacks on US assets in the region.
Bahrain also announced that 86 missiles and 148 drones targeting the kingdom have been intercepted and destroyed since the start of the attacks from Iran, the Bahrain News Agency reported.