Murray Wood: Watch out for the pump pirates!
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched a new wave of attacks Thursday at Israel, American bases and countries around the region, threatening that the United States would “bitterly regret” torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and calling for “Trump’s blood,” while Israel said it hit multiple targets in Iran.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iranian state television said additional strikes also targeted U.S. bases.
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The Israeli military said it had hit 80 targets in Lebanon linked to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group over the past 24 hours and that a wave of strikes on Iran had hit long range ballistic missile launch sites and other targets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an “an atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, which killed at least 87 Iranian sailors.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set,” he said on social media.
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, in one of the few clerical statements so far from Iran, later called on state television for the shedding of both Israeli and “Trump’s blood.”
“Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’” he said in a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shiite Islam.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war Saturday, targeting Iran’s leadership and killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as hitting its missile arsenal and nuclear facilities. Leaders have suggested toppling the government is a goal, but the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, signaling an open-ended conflict.
The war has killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas, snarled international shipping and stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Threats expanding across the Middle East
A drone crashed Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijan exclave bordering the north of Iran that is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school and two civilians were injured, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
Iran has not acknowledged targeting Azerbaijan, but its attacks since the start of the war have spread erratically and involved regional countries and beyond.
In Abu Dhabi, six people were wounded when a drone was shot down near the Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts U.S. forces, and shrapnel fell to the ground, authorities said.
Qatar evacuated residents near the U.S. Embassy in Doha as a temporary precaution Thursday and later reported a missile attack on the city. Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its province bordering Jordan.
A tanker apparently came under attack off the coast of Kuwait early Thursday, expanding the area where commercial shipping was in danger, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center run by the British military. It said there was an explosion but did not offfer a cause. Iran in the past has attacked ships by attaching limpet mines to them.
Prior attacks since fighting began Saturday have happened in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Persian Gulf and through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday after oil prices stopped spiking and reports gave encouraging updates on the American economy. But oil prices resumed their ascent early Thursday and Brent crude, the international standard, is now up some 15% from the start of the conflict as Iranian attacks have disrupted traffic through the strait.
Iranian warship sunk on way home from multinational exercises
The Iranian ship sunk by the U.S. Navy was on its way back from participating in a February exercise hosted by the Indian navy. The U.S. Navy also participated in the same exercise with a P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which is employed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as surveillance and reconnaissance.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 crew members were rescued, while its navy recovered 87 bodies.
Araghchi said it had been carrying “almost 130” crew.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Wednesday that an American submarine had sunk the ship with a torpedo.
Sri Lanka’s media minister and government spokesman, Nalinda Jayatissa, told parliament Thursday that another Iranian ship had arrived in its waters. Jayatissa did not provide further details about the ship or the number of people on board.
Israel says it hits more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
U.S. and Israeli military officials say launches from Iran have declined as their attacks have taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. Israel’s Homefront Command announced it was easing restrictions that closed workplaces nationwide, which could reopen Thursday if there is a shelter nearby. Schools would remain closed.
Still, explosions sounded early Thursday in Israel, which said its defensive systems were moving to intercept at least three waves of Iranian missiles.
At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran, the country’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Thursday. Eleven people have died in Israel. Six U.S. troops have been killed, including a major whose identity was released Wednesday.
Among the 80 targets in Lebanon that the Israel military said it hit over the past 24 hours were “several command centers” used by Hezbollah in Beirut. It showed video footage of a building being hit, but provided no further details.
Another eight people were killed in Lebanon, including two in a building struck by the Israeli military in the Beddawi refugee camp in the coastal city of Tripoli on Thursday and three on a coastal highway, authorities said. The Israeli military did not immediately say who it targeted in the strikes.
In two near-simultaneous Israeli drone strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs late Wednesday, two vehicles were hit, killing three people and wounding six, the health ministry said. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah member, adding that further details would follow.
