Iran continues strikes on Arab states, global oil supply shock deepens

By Arsalan Shahla and Josh Wingrove

 

Arab states along the Persian Gulf contended with a ninth day of incoming missiles and drones from Iran, which said it had the capacity to sustain the war for months. President Donald Trump said the US will consider widening its strikes on Iran in a conflict that’s upended energy markets.

 

The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain said they intercepted Iranian attacks overnight into Sunday. The UAE and Kuwait began reducing oil production amid the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s energy exports transit.

 

 

Iran’s strikes continued even after its President Masoud Pezeshkian said he had instructed the military not to attack any nation that isn’t striking the Islamic Republic and apologised to neighboring countries. Trump said the remarks amounted to a surrender, but Tehran pressed ahead with strikes, with a senior official saying it has the right to hit states hosting US military bases.

 

“When the enemy attacks us from bases in the region, we respond and will continue to respond. That’s our right and it’s a standing policy,” Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on state television on Saturday. “Countries in the region must either prevent the US from using their territory against Iran themselves, or we will.”

 

The Iranian president’s comments drew domestic anger, prompting speculation of a rift between him and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which coordinates Iran’s missile programme and regional militia alliances, according to Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute. 

 

Pezeshkian said Sunday Iran’s adversaries had drawn “naive conclusions” from his earlier remarks, adding Tehran is “compelled” to respond to aggression carried out from other countries.

 

Iran’s armed forces have the capacity to sustain at least six months of high-intensity war at the current pace and Tehran will start using more advanced, rarely-used long-range missiles in the “coming days,” state news agency IRIB said Sunday, citing the Revolutionary Guards Corps.

 

Trump said on Saturday that the US will consider striking areas and groups of people in Iran that were not previously considered targets.

 

Israeli jets targeted Iranian oil depots in the Kuhak and Shahran areas of Tehran as well as the nearby city of Karaj, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.

 

Gulf countries continued to fend off projectiles from Iran. The UAE, which pumped more than 3.5 million barrels a day as OPEC’s third-biggest producer in January, started cutting oil production at its offshore fields. Kuwait, OPEC’s fifth-biggest producer, reduced oil and refinery production, citing the “ongoing aggression” by Iran.

 

The Trump administration pushed back against worries around surging energy costs as a result of the war, with US gasoline prices rising to the highest since September 2024. US crude futures ended the week above $90 a barrel — more than $20 higher than last Friday — and notched the biggest weekly percentage gain on record in data going back to the 1980s. 

 

Bahrain said three people were injured after shrapnel from intercepted missiles fell on the country. Separately, a water desalination plant in Bahrain sustained material damage following an Iranian drone attack but water supplies remain unaffected, the country said on Sunday.

 

Saudi Arabia intercepted a drone heading toward its Shaybah oil field, three others east of the capital Riyadh and shot down three more in Riyadh city. Defense forces thwarted an attempt on the Diplomatic Quarter, where the US embassy is located, in the first confirmed targeting of the area since early last week.

 

At least one person was killed in Dubai due to “debris from an aerial interception,” the emirate said.

 

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a rare public appearance to warn Iran to stop attacking it. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh — we are no easy prey,” he said.

 

Australia is assessing a request from Gulf nations for defensive military support to protect them against Iranian drone and missile attacks, but declined to say what it might provide.

 

Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday there would have to be a “very good reason” for the US to deploy ground troops to Iran, adding that Iranian forces would likely have to be so decimated they wouldn’t be able to resist. The US president also said he had ruled out the idea of armed Kurdish forces entering Iran to join the fight. 

 

Trump added the war would continue “for a little while” and oil prices would come back down. 

 

Iran has so far reported 1,332 deaths in the war, alongside widespread destruction. Scores of others were killed elsewhere in the region and the US has said six service members lost their lives in the conflict.

 

The war began after the US and Israel struck the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28, disrupting global supply chains and stoking fears of a new inflation crisis, while more than a dozen countries have been sucked into the fray.

 

Iran’s Assembly of Experts is poised to elect a new supreme leader after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the conflict. Mojtaba Khamenei, the slain leader’s second-oldest son, is in the running. 

 

With no clear timeline for the end of military operations, countries in Europe and Asia have been moving to bolster defenses. Nato said it was boosting its missile defense posture following the downing on Wednesday of an Iranian missile heading toward Turkish airspace.

 

Airlines remain hamstrung by the conflict, with the number of canceled flights to West Asia hubs surpassing 27,000 since fighting began. Thousands of passengers remained stranded in the Gulf region, although on Friday Emirates said it’s aiming for a return to full network operations in coming days.