STATE TIMES NEWS
DUBAI: Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut and Tehran on Friday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries. There was no sign of the war letting up on its seventh day, as US President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran and called for its “unconditional surrender.”
The strikes in Lebanon were the heaviest since a 2024 ceasefire ended the last war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, who fired rockets at Israel in the opening days of the latest conflict. Tens of thousands have fled Beirut’s suburbs and southern Lebanon after sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings.
The war has escalated to affect more than a dozen countries across the Middle East and beyond. The United States said it had struck an Iranian drone carrier at sea as it waged an unrelenting campaign against the country’s navy that earlier included torpedoing of a warship in the Indian Ocean.
The US and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted, as the US has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that after Iran’s surrender, “and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
The war has already caused a spike in oil prices, and Qatar’s energy minister warned that it could “bring down the economies of the world,” predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $150 a barrel. Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times newspaper that even if the war ended immediately it could take “weeks to months” to resume normal exports after an Iranian drone strike on Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas plant.
Israel’s military said Friday morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital. Witnesses described Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.
Iran meanwhile launched missile and drone attacks at Israel, as well as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that “some countries” had begun mediation efforts in the conflict, without elaborating.
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, urged all countries involved to de-escalate, saying “the world urgently needs to see steps to contain and extinguish this blaze.”
The US military said early Friday that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.
The US military’s Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180-meter-long (yard) runway for drones. The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2025 inauguration.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, described the carrier as “roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.”
“As we speak, it’s on fire,” Cooper told reporters.
Earlier in the week, an American submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka as it was returning from an exercise hosted by the Indian navy that the US also joined. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 crew members and recovered 87 bodies.
Under cover of darkness Friday morning, B-2 stealth bombers dropped dozens of 2,000-pound “penetrator” bombs on deeply buried ballistic missile launchers inside Iran, Cooper said.
Qatar said early Friday it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the US Central Command.
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early Friday toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which also hosts US forces, said a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties. In Kuwait, where the six US soldiers were killed Sunday, the army said air defenses were activated when missile and drone attacks breached its airspace.
The United Arab Emirates said three drones had struck its territory, without elaborating.
The British ambassador to Bahrain said Friday that the United Kingdom would help defend the country with its fighter jets. Ambassador Alastair Long’s announcement came the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was sending four more Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters to Qatar following requests from allies for further help.
In Israel, the sound of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv early Friday morning after a warning about missiles incoming from Iran, as air defense systems worked to intercept the barrage.
