Gulf states intercept new missiles, drones as Iran threatens to widen war

Arab Gulf states reported new missile and drone attacks on Sunday after Iran threatened to widen its campaign as the war in the Middle East entered its third week.

Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28, saying they were striking nuclear and military sites and encouraging the Iranian people to rise against their leaders. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on the war's first day.

Iran has responded with attacks against Israel and neighbouring Gulf states that host U.S. military bases. The war, which shows no signs of ending soon, has upended global air travel, disrupted oil exports from the region and sent fuel prices rising around the world.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates warned residents on Sunday that they were working to intercept incoming projectiles, a day after Iran called for the evacuations of three major U.A.E. ports, threatening for the first time a neighbouring country's non-U.S. assets.

Iranian strikes have killed at least a dozen civilians in Gulf states, most of them migrant workers. In Iran, the International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 1,300 people have been killed so far. That includes 223 women and 202 children, according to Iranian Health Ministry figures reported by Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.

In Israel, 12 people were reported dead by Iranian missile fire, said the national rescue service Magen David Adom. At least 13 members of the U.S. military have also been killed since the war began, including seven in combat and six who died in a plane crash over Iraq last week.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping artery through which a fifth of the world's oil passes on tankers.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's humanitarian crisis deepened, with more than 820 people killed, according to the Ministry of Health, and 850,000 displaced as Israel launched waves of strikes and sent additional troops into southern Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the U.S. attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the U.A.E. — Ras Al Khaimah and a place "very close to Dubai" — calling that dangerous and saying Iran "will try to be careful not to attack any populated area" there.

U.S. Central Command said it had no response to Iran's claim. A diplomatic adviser to the U.A.E.'s president, Anwar Gargash, rejected accusations that the U.S. used its land or air as a base for its attacks on Kharg Island.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbours during the war, but it has said it was targeting U.S. assets — even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.

Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was closed only to "those who are attacking us and their allies."

As global anxiety soars over oil prices and supplies, Trump said on Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz "open and safe." Britain, in response, said it was discussing with allies a "range of options" to secure shipping.

Araghchi, in a social media post, urged neighbours to "expel foreign aggressors" and described Trump's call as "begging."