Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that the country has the capacity to sustain an intense war with the United States and Israel for up to six months.
The statement came as the regional conflict entered its second week, spreading tensions across the Middle East and raising fresh concerns over energy supplies and security in several Gulf countries.
The Guards said Iran had so far deployed “first and second generation” missiles in the war but could soon escalate its response.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said the country would soon introduce “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” into the conflict.
The fighting widened over the weekend, with Saudi Arabia intercepting more than a dozen drones believed to be heading towards key locations, including the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh.
Kuwait also reported that an attack struck fuel storage tanks at its international airport, deepening fears about disruptions to global energy supplies. The country’s national oil company later announced a reduction in crude production due to threats to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes.
Iran accused the United States and Israel of carrying out a strike on an oil depot in Tehran on Saturday. The incident marked the first reported attack on the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure since the conflict began.
The Israeli military confirmed it targeted “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” used “to operate military infrastructure”.
Israel also launched a new wave of air strikes “across Tehran” on Sunday. The operation followed a precision strike on “key commanders” of the Quds Force, the overseas operations unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, at a seaside hotel in central Beirut.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel. An AFP photographer at the scene reported shattered windows and charred walls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would continue the war against Iran “with all our force”. Israel has vowed to dismantle Iran’s leadership following joint US-Israeli raids that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week and triggered the regional conflict.
The widening war has already claimed American casualties. United States President Donald Trump attended the return of six US service members killed in a drone strike on a US military base in Kuwait last Sunday.
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of attempting to replicate a political strategy used in Venezuela to remove President Nicolas Maduro.
“Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela — they would strike, take control and it would be over — but now they are trapped,” he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state television on Saturday.
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also warned Middle East countries he said were assisting Israel and the United States.
He said countries that were “openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy” should expect continued attacks, adding that “the heavy attacks on these targets will continue”.
Iran had earlier vowed to target US interests across the region. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported fresh attacks.
Qatar said Iran fired two cruise missiles and 10 ballistic missiles at the country on Saturday. The UAE defence ministry also said its forces intercepted incoming Iranian missiles and drones.
Video footage shared on Saturday showed a projectile crashing at Dubai airport, while AFP journalists reported hearing explosions in Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq later that evening.
Inside Iran, residents say damage to infrastructure and homes is increasing, while security forces have intensified their presence in major cities.
“I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced war would understand it,” a 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s health ministry said at least 926 civilians had been killed and around 6,000 wounded since the conflict began, though AFP said it could not independently verify the figures.
In Lebanon, Israeli forces launched strikes on Hezbollah positions in the southern suburbs of Beirut after the group entered the war earlier this week with rocket and drone attacks on Israel following Khamenei’s death.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 294 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes over the past week.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned the country was facing a looming “humanitarian disaster”.
Israel said its latest raids in Iran targeted a military academy, an underground command centre and missile storage facilities.
Netanyahu also said Israel had achieved near-total control of the airspace over Tehran.
Trump repeated his claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon and suggested US forces could eventually be deployed to secure the country’s enriched uranium stockpiles.
Separately, he blamed Iran for a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that authorities said killed at least 150 people. Iran, however, blamed Washington for the attack.
Neither the United States nor Israel has claimed responsibility, and AFP said it could not independently verify the circumstances surrounding the strike.
(AFP)
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