Israel hammers Beirut and Tehran as Iran attacks more Israeli targets

Gulf countries say they have intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes.

Gulf countries say they have intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes.

Saudi Arabia said early on Saturday it stopped four drones attacking the country's massive Shaybah oil field, the second attack within hours.

In Dubai, people heard several blasts in the morning, with Emirati authorities saying there had been "a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception".

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Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes hammered Beirut and Tehran.

Tehran's airport was attacked amid a bombardment of the city, and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel as the United States warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign that officials said would be the most intense yet in the weeklong conflict.

A video circulating on social media, which CNN says it has geolocated, showed Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on fire after the strikes.

Iran's state broadcaster reported explosions were heard and smoke was seen in the eastern and western parts of Tehran, CNN says.

The death toll continued to rise on Saturday with at least 1230 people killed in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Six US troops were reported killed.

In the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war, two officials familiar with US intelligence said Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region.

The war has continued to intensify, with no end in sight.

US President Donald Trump's administration approved a new $US151 million ($215 million) arms sale to Israel after Trump said he would not negotiate with Iran without its "unconditional surrender".

Iran's UN ambassador said the country would "take all necessary measures" to defend itself.

In other developments, evidence emerged suggesting that an explosion that killed scores of Iranian students at a school was likely caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with the regime's Revolutionary Guard.

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Qatar's energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, warned in an interview with the Financial Times that the war could "bring down the economies of the world," predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $150 a barrel.

The price for a barrel of benchmark US crude rose above $90 on Friday for the first time in more than two years.

Iran's attacks on Gulf countries 'miscalculation of historic proportions'

In a sign of the widening nature of the conflict, sirens sounded early on Saturday in Bahrain as Iranian attacks targeted the island kingdom.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted four drones headed toward its vast 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, which hosts US forces.

While authorities in the United Arab Emirates said there was an interception over the city-state.

People heard several blasts in the morning. Later 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 service — circled a distance away just before the interception.

While passengers waiting for flights inside the airport found themselves ushered down into train tunnels at the sprawling airfield after missile alert sounded.

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."

Loud booms sound in Jerusalem

Also early on Saturday, loud booms sounded in Jerusalem and incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters across Israel.

Less than five minutes after giving the all clear on the second missile launch identified as from Iran, the military said another salvo was targeting the country. It was the third time that happened overnight.

There were no immediate reports of casualties by Israel's emergency services.

Russia is providing information to Iran, officials say

Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with US intelligence on the matter.

The people, who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the US intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran on what to do with the information.

Still, it's the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war.

Trump says US will help rebuild Iran once it has 'ACCEPTABLE' leaders

In a social media post on Friday, Trump said "There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"

After a surrender, "and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s)," he wrote, the US and its allies will help rebuild Iran, making it "economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before."

Those comments were likely to raise further questions about the endgame of the war.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that "some countries" had begun mediation efforts, without elaborating.

Trump has also told media outlets that he should be involved in choosing a replacement for Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war.

Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei — a front-runner to replace his father — calling him "a lightweight."

Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, condemned Trump's statement and said Iran "does not accept and will never allow any foreign power to interfere in its internal affairs."

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Iranian state television reported on Friday that a leadership council had started discussing how to convene the country's Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.

US official warns that 'biggest bombing' is coming

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a television interview that the "biggest bombing campaign" of the war was still to come.

Israel has said that over the past week it has heavily bombed an extensive underground bunker that Iranian leaders had planned to use during the hostilities.

New information surfaced suggesting that a deadly February 28 explosion at a school in the Iranian city of Minab, some 1,100 kilometers southeast of Tehran, was likely caused by US airstrikes.

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The information included satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information released by US and Israeli military forces.

Iranian state media has said more than 165 people were killed in the blast, most of them of children.

Iran has blamed Israel and the US for the explosion. Neither country has accepted responsibility, though Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the US is investigating.

Fighting with Israeli troops reported in eastern Lebanon

The Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with an Israeli force that landed late Friday in the mountains of eastern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least three people were killed.

Israel did not acknowledge the fighting, and its military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel has carried out waves of airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a large presence but which is also home to hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said at least 217 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since Monday and 798 wounded.

Roads in the Lebanese capital were choked with evacuating traffic as smoke rose over the city's southern districts. Two hospitals evacuated patients and staff.

"What can we do? We prayed here under the tree. During the night, we slept in the car because there is no place to stay," Jihan Shehadeh, one of the tens of thousands of displaced, said.

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