Our teams continue to track developments across the Middle East exactly one week after the US and Israeli started air strikes on Iran, ostensibly to pressure Tehran into reigning in its nuclear programme.
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Those initial strikes on 28 February killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaving a power vacuum in the country. Dozens of senior leadership and military figures were also killed.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes on US military assets have been met with anger and dismay in countries across the Gulf.
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5:02 GMT+1
Russia allegedly provided Iran with intel that could help it strike US military, sources say
Russia has allegedly provided Iran with information that could help it strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, two officials familiar with US intelligence said.
The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that US intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran on what to do with the information as the US and Israel and Iran fires retaliatory salvos at American assets and allies in the Persian Gulf.
Still, it’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran a week ago.
5:51 GMT+1
Saudi defence minister warns Iran against ‘miscalculation’
Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, urged Iran on Saturday to “exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation”, following repeated missile and drone launches at the kingdom.
After meeting with Pakistan’s military chief, the Saudi minister posted on X: “We discussed Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them… We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.”
5:48 GMT+1
Flights in holding pattern above Dubai Airport
International flight tracker Flightradar24 is reporting that several flights headed for Dubai are in a holding pattern over the airport.
Earlier on Saturday, the Dubai Media Office reported that there had been a “minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception.”
Flights heading to Dubai International Airport, which is the world’s busiest for international travel and has been trying to restart services, circled a distance away just before the interception.
5:44 GMT+1
Trump arrives in Miami ahead of attending ‘dignified transfer’ ceremony
US President Donald Trump has arrived in Miami where he will spend the night after flying in from Washington.
He didn’t speak to journalists upon his arrival but did say earlier on Friday that the US was doing “phenomenally” in its military campaign in Iran.
On Saturday, Trump is expected to meet with Latin American leaders at the “Shield of the Americas” summit in Miami before he heads to Dover in Delaware.
That’s where he will attend what is called a “dignified transfer” ceremony, where the bodies of the six US military personnel killed in an Iranian strike on a base in Kuwait are returned home.
5:51 GMT+1
Saudi Arabia intercepts ballistic missiles and drones
More drones attacked Saudi Arabia early on Saturday, the country’s Defence Ministry said.
The ministry said it intercepted four drones attacking the country’s massive Shaybah oil field, located deep in the sands of the Empty Quarter desert. It was the second attack within hours.
Earlier, the ministry said it intercepted a drone attack targeting an area around the capital, Riyadh.
The ministry says it also intercepted two ballistic missiles targeting Prince Sultan Air Base.
5:31 GMT+1
Explosion and air raid sirens heard in Bahrain
An explosion and air raid sirens have been heard in the Bahraini capital Manama on Saturday morning.
“Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” Bahrain’s interior ministry posted on X.
5:19 GMT+1
Blast in Jerusalem after Iran missile alert, journalist says
A journalist with the AFP news agency heard an explosion in Jerusalem on Saturday, after air raid sirens warned of an incoming Iranian missile attack.
The Israeli military said earlier that air defences were “operating to intercept the threat”, before giving the all-clear.
5:16 GMT+1
Qatar analyst calls Iran attacks on Gulf Arabs a ‘miscalculation of historic proportions’
Writing for the Qatar-funded news network Al Jazeera, Sultan al-Khulaifi of the Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies said Gulf Arab states “watched with dread” as the US and Israel launched the war with Iran and they had “invested enormous diplomatic capital in preventing precisely this moment.”
“That Iran’s response has been to turn its missiles on these same neighbours is not only a strategic miscalculation of historic proportions, but is also a profound moral and legal failure that risks poisoning relations for generations to come,” he wrote.
He also argued that “the strategic logic Iran is operating on — that attacking Gulf states will pressure Washington to end the war — is not only flawed in practice, it actively serves Israeli interests.”
“By spreading the conflict to the Gulf, Tehran is doing precisely what Israel could not do alone: steering the war away from the Israeli-Iranian axis and transforming it into a confrontation between Iran and its Arab neighbours.”
5:13 GMT+1
Explosions heard and interception reported over Dubai
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates say there was an interception over Dubai early on Saturday.
People heard several blasts in the morning and the government’s Dubai Media Office said there was “a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception has been successfully contained.”
Flights heading to Dubai International Airport, which is the world’s busiest for international travel and has been trying to restart services, circled a distance away just before the interception.
4:37 GMT+1
Hezbollah reports clashes with Israeli forces in eastern Lebanon
The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah said early on Saturday that its fighters clashed with an Israeli force that landed along the border with Syria.
Israel did not acknowledge the fighting and its military did not respond to requests for comment.
The Iranian-backed group said the clashes late on Friday happened in a cemetery on the edge of the town of Nabi Chit.
Hezbollah said the Israeli miliary launched massive airstrikes to secure the withdrawal of its forces amid the clashes.
The Lebanese health ministry said at least three people were killed and 16 others were wounded in the strikes.
4:30 GMT+1
Drones target Saudi Arabi in early hours of Saturday
Saudi Arabia faced repeated drone attacks early on Saturday targeting the area around its capital, Riyadh, and a major oil field.
The Saudi Defence Ministry said it intercepted all the drones it detected coming into the kingdom so far.
Coming under particular attack was Saudi Arabia’s massive Shaybah oil field, located deep in the sands of the Empty Quarter desert.
It produces 1 million barrels of oil a day, according to the state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco, which refers to the field as “most remote treasure on Earth.”
Iranian attacks increasingly have targeted oil infrastructure across the Gulf Arab states and disrupted ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes.
4:24 GMT+1
US approves new $151 million arms sale to Israel as Iran war continues
The State Department announced late on Friday that it approved the sale of thousands of 1,000-pound bombs to Israel.
It also said Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined there was an emergency need for the munitions and waived the normal congressional review process.
The notice to Congress informing it that lawmakers would be bypassed in the consideration of the sale did not say where Israel intends to use the bombs.
“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” it said.
4:23 GMT+1
Israeli military says responding to Iran missile attack
The Israeli military said that air defences were responding to an Iranian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Forces had “identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel.
Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said in a statement.
Air raid alerts across the country’s north were lifted several minutes later.
