On the eighth day of the war, Israeli fighter jets bombed one of Tehran’s two airports and caused a fire, in one of the most intense offensives since the conflict began a week ago.
Iran promised this Saturday (7) that it will not surrender to the United States or Israel, on the eighth day of war, when Israeli fighter jets bombed one of Tehran’s two airports and caused a fire.
The wave of Israeli attacks during the early hours of Saturday was one of the most intense since the beginning of the wara week ago. Among the targets were a military academy, an underground command center and a missile depot.
Another target of the bombings was Mehrabad international airport, one of two in the Iranian capital, which suffered a major fire.
“I don’t believe that anyone who hasn’t lived through a war can understand,” a terrified 26-year-old teacher from Tehran told AFP. “When you hear the bombs, you don’t know where they are going to fall,” added the resident of the Iranian capital, who requested anonymity.
Israel simultaneously bombed several Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon. The pro-Iranian militia party said it prevented an Israeli attempt to incursion near the Syrian border.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced a death toll of 16 from Saturday’s attacks.
On the eighth day of conflict, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian adopted a defiant tone towards his American counterpart Donald Trump, who on Friday demanded Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” to end the war.
“Enemies will take to the grave their desire for the Iranian people to surrender,” Pezeshkian said in a televised speech.
Attack on an oil tanker
The Islamic Republic, which a week ago lost the country’s supreme leader in a bombing, Ali Khamenei continued with the reprisal campaign.
This Saturday, sirens and explosions were heard in Jerusalem and in Gulf cities such as Dubai, Manama and Riyadh, where Saudi defenses intercepted missiles aimed at an air base with American military personnel.
Dubai airport, the one with the largest international traffic in the world, suspended its operations for a few minutes, but shortly afterwards partially resumed flights after an interception of Iranian projectiles. A witness told AFP he heard a loud explosion.
The war also affects maritime traffic due to the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which, in a normal period, 20% of the oil and liquefied gas consumed throughout the planet transits.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said this Saturday that it attacked, with a drone, an oil tanker that was trying to cross the strategic passage that gives access to the Persian Gulf.
Sorry
In his speech, Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring Gulf countriesincluding many that host American bases, and promised that there will be no more projectile launches against these nations, “except in the case of an attack against Iran from these territories”.
The war, which is entering its second week, began on February 28 with the joint Israeli and American bombing campaign in Iran, accused of trying to develop atomic weapons and threatening Israel and the United States with its missile arsenal.
Since then, the conflict has reached the rest of the Gulf, Lebanon, Cyprus – an EU member country that is home to two British bases –, Azerbaijan, Turkey and even the coasts of Sri Lanka, where an American submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate.
Air traffic remains heavily disrupted in the wealthy Gulf monarchies. The price of oil soared 30% in one week, which led to the price of Brent and WTI surpassing the 90 dollar mark.
The American military command for the Middle East says it has attacked almost 3,000 targets since the start of operation “Epic Fury” against Tehran.
Human cost
Inside Iran, damage to residential buildings and infrastructure continues: Tehran residents are anxious and alert to the large presence of security forces on the streets.
The Iranian Ministry of Health said on Friday that Israeli and American attacks killed 926 civilians and injured nearly 6,000. The AFP is unable to independently verify the figures.
Ten people have died in Israel and 13 in the Gulf countries since the start of the war, as a result of Iranian reprisals. American forces have lost six members since the start of the conflict.
In Lebanon, drawn into war on Monday when Hezbollah fired projectiles at Israel, the government announced a death toll of 217. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned that the country is close to a “humanitarian disaster”.
Nearly 300,000 people have fled their homes in the south and east of the country and on the southern outskirts of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, according to the NGO Norwegian Council for Refugees.
Russian intelligence
According to the American press, the Russia provides information to Iran about possible American targetsbut Washington downplayed the possibility.
“We’re not worried. We’ll deal with it if necessary,” said Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, according to excerpts released from an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” scheduled to air on Sunday.
On Friday, Trump promised to help rebuild the Iranian economy if Tehran nominates someone “acceptable” as Khamenei’s successor.
Before the election of the new supreme leader, the country is governed on an interim basis by a triumvirate made up of President Pezeshkian, the head of the Judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeí, and a religious leader who is a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Council of Guardians of the Constitution, Alireza Arafi.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the UN, said that Washington will have no role in choosing the next supreme leader, a figure with more power than the president in Tehran and who has the final say on foreign policy issues.
“The choice of Iranian leadership will strictly comply with our constitutional procedures and will only follow the will of the Iranian people, without foreign interference,” he declared.
*AFP
