Israel launches fresh broad-scale strikes on Tehran

Israel announced a new wave of large-scale strikes on Iran, targeting government sites in Tehran, while US President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum that only unconditional surrender would bring an end to the intensifying war.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Mehrabad Airport in Tehran was struck on Saturday (March 7), although there was no immediate statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

US Central Command, which oversees American military forces in the Middle East, said that more than 3,000 targets in Iran had been struck over the past week, including Revolutionary Guard headquarters, command-and-control centres, air defence systems, missile launch sites, naval warships and submarines.

The fresh large-scale Israeli strikes on Tehran came a day after Israel stepped up air attacks in Lebanon, striking Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group holds sway, as well as the eastern city of Baalbeck.

At the same time, Iran launched attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a missile fired at Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, which hosts US military personnel.

Risk of conflict spiralling out of control

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for serious diplomatic negotiations and warned of “a situation that could spiral beyond anyone’s control”.

Trump, meanwhile, continued to offer varying justifications for starting the war and rejected fresh negotiations with Tehran. In a post on Truth Social, he said there would be “no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender”.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that once the president determined Iran no longer posed a threat to the United States and the operation’s goals had been achieved, “Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender, whether they say it themselves or not”.

Trump also promised to help rebuild Iran’s economy if Tehran installed someone “acceptable” to him to replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed last weekend.

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States would have no role in selecting Khamenei’s successor.

He added: “The selection of Iran’s leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference.”

Humanitarian disaster warning

Six US service members have been killed, and Trump is due to attend the dignified transfer of their bodies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday.

Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 217 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that a “humanitarian disaster is looming”.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said 300,000 people in the country had been forced to flee their homes.

Three UN peacekeepers were wounded after their base in southern Lebanon was hit on Friday, according to the UN force and the Ghanaian military.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of deliberately targeting them, while French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the strike as “unacceptable”.

Tehran was heavily bombarded by Israeli strikes on Friday, in what AFP journalists described as among the most intense days of bombardment so far.

Source CNA