War in the Middle East: latest developments

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday:

Trump hails Middle East war progress

US President Donald Trump told Latin American leaders at a Florida summit: “We’re doing very well in Iran, and you see the result.”

Repeating his claim that Iran had been close to having a nuclear weapon, he added: “They’re crazy and they would have used it. So we did the world a favour.”

Earlier, in a post on his Truth Social Platform, he warned the United States would hit Iran “very hard” and threatened to expand strikes to include new targets.

IRGC aircraft targeted

Israel said it hit 16 military aircraft belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in overnight strikes on Mehrabad airport, in Tehran.

The airport was hit as part of a wave of Israeli strikes on the Iranian cities of Tehran and Isfahan. Israeli and US attacks around Isfahan killed at least eight people, a provincial official said.

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Strike hits base near Mosul

A strike, thought to be American, hit a military base of the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi in northern Iraq Saturday, two Hashed sources told AFP.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), is an alliance of factions now integrated into the regular army. It has pro-Iran factions within it, said to act on their own.

Bases belonging to Hashed al-Shaabi have been hit several times since the start of the war in the Middle East.

Dubai airport briefly closed

Dubai briefly closed its main airport – a key global transport hub – after an unidentified object was intercepted nearby.

The UAE said it was targeted with 16 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones on Saturday.

Qatar intercepts missile

Qatar’s defence ministry said Saturday its forces intercepted a missile, shortly after AFP journalists heard explosions and sirens sounded in central Doha.

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US uses UK bases

Britain’s government said the US had started using UK bases – one in England, the other the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean – for operations against Iran.

Its defence ministry said the US flights from the bases were for “specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region”.

Iran targets Iraqi Kurdistan

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting “separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which hosts bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish militant groups and which lies across the border from Iran’s own Kurdish region.

Israeli warns Lebanese

Israel’s military on Saturday warned the remaining residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, to evacuate immediately in an Arab-language post on X.

Earlier Israel ordered residents in a district of Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre to evacuate ahead of strikes, saying it would “soon” target Hezbollah sites there.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah – which has joined in Iran’s retaliation against Israel – or “pay a very heavy price”.

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Missing aviator

Israel’s military said it had carried out an operation in Lebanon to find remains of airman Ron Arad, but failed to uncover any trace of the navigator missing since 1986.

Saudi warning

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman urged Iran to “avoid miscalculation”, following missile and drone launches against the kingdom.

In a series of statements, the Saudi defence ministry said it had thwarted repeated missile launches at an air base which houses US military personnel and drone attacks at a major oil field.

Iran apology

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not surrender to Israel and the United States and apologised to neighbouring countries for Iran’s attacks.

“No more attacks will be made on neighbouring countries and no missiles will be fired unless an attack on Iran originates from those countries,” he said.

Oil tanker targeted

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they had targeted another oil tanker in the Gulf with a drone.

The Guards earlier said they were “waiting” for US forces to escort ships through the strait.

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