Tehran strikes back at Gulf states after U.S.-Israel attack Iran

The US President said that the US military has begun “major combat operations” in Iran Donald Trump This was confirmed on Saturday, as Iranian missiles targeted several cities in the Middle East.

“Our goal is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, an evil group of extremely cruel and terrible people,” Trump said in a video message on his Truth Social account.

Reuters reported that an American official confirmed earlier that American forces attacked Iran by air and sea. It also quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying that several ministries in the southern part of the Iranian capital, Tehran, were targeted.

Israel also launched an attack on Saturday on the Iranian capital, with a cloud of smoke rising from the city centre.

Explosions were heard In major cities across the Middle East, including Jerusalem, where Iran launched counterattacks. CNBC producer Joan Movahed, in Dubai, reported that he heard two explosions over the city in the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar and the UAE condemned the Iranian counter-missile attacks.

The Qatari Ministry of Defense said, in a statement, “The State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, considering this a blatant violation of its national sovereignty.”

A United Arab Emirates The statement said: “The Ministry of Defense announced that the country was subjected today to a blatant attack by Iranian ballistic missiles, which the UAE air defenses responded to with great efficiency and a number of missiles were successfully intercepted.”

The IDF said it did so The selected missiles were launched From Iran to Israel.

The Israeli army said in a tweet on Twitter: “Defense systems are working to intercept the threat. In the past few minutes, the Home Front Command sent a precautionary directive directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas.”

elsewhere, Bahrain said that the service center of the US Fifth Fleet was subjected to a missile attack. The US Embassy in the Bahraini capital, Manama, issued a Security alert Warning of “Imminent drone/missile attack in Bahrain.”

The embassy urged in a tweet, “American citizens in Bahrain to shelter in place, review security plans in the event of an attack, and remain alert in the event of additional attacks in the future. US Embassy employees are sheltering in place.”

The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, also issued a Shelter in place alert.

Saturday’s attacks come after the United States assembled a huge fleet of combat aircraft and warships in the region in an attempt to pressure Iran Agreement on its nuclear program.

Trump warned earlier in February that “Really bad stuff“It will happen unless Tehran agrees to the nuclear deal. The United States and Iran held a third round of talks in Switzerland on Thursday to try to resolve the crisis.

Ahead of the discussions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Iran’s reluctance to talk about its ballistic missile development programme, along with its nuclear programme, represented a “very big problem”. Iran has said it is ready to make concessions when it comes to its nuclear program, but has repeatedly said that Tehran’s missile program was never part of the talks’ agenda.

but, Trump said that Iran continued to seek nuclear weapons despite ongoing negotiations to end its program.

“[In] In Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we destroyed the regime’s nuclear programs at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Trump said: “After that attack, we warned them not to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we repeatedly sought to reach an agreement. But Iran refused.”

He added: “Instead, they have tried to rebuild their nuclear program and continue developing long-range missiles that could now threaten our good friends and allies in Europe, our forces stationed abroad and could soon reach the American homeland.”

A Pentagon press official said the department received email requests from CNBC for comment, but made no further statement.

A senior Middle East diplomat with direct knowledge of recent talks between Iran and the United States told MS Now: “Once again, when negotiations are close to success… Israel has intervened to pre-empt diplomacy.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “historic leadership” and said that “the Iranian government must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that enable it to threaten all of humanity.”

Iran in the meantime, It strongly condemned the attacks, and accused the United States and Israel of “blatant violation” of Iran’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

French President Emmanuel Macron He said The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel and Iran carries “serious consequences.”

“The continued escalation is dangerous for everyone. It must stop. The Iranian regime must understand that it now has no other choice but to engage in good faith in negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic programmes,” Macron said, calling for an “urgent” meeting of the UN Security Council.

Russia was clear in its condemnation of the American and Israeli strikes.

“It is particularly reprehensible that these strikes are once again being carried out under the cover of a renewed negotiation process, ostensibly aimed at securing long-term normalization of the situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. statement.

Energy market participants are closely monitoring rising geopolitical tensions with oil prices Rising to six-month highs After Trump said he was considering launching a military strike against Iran.

Iran, a founding member of OPEC, is a major oil producer and is located in the heart of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes.

— Rhea Bhattacharjee, Victor Loh and Emma Graham Contribute to this story