Trump: Iran will be ‘hit very hard’; Pezeshkian apologizes, but attacks on Gulf states continue
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Truth Social Iran will be “hit very hard” on Saturday, and that “areas and groups of people” not targeted before are now “under serious consideration.”
In his post, Trump acknowledged that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacks in the region, but added that “this promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack.”
Pezeshkian is part of the three-person council leading Iran since joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28 killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since then, Iran has retaliated by attacking Gulf Arab states.
On Saturday, Pezeshkian said he and the other leadership council members have been in touch with armed forces about the attacks, The Associated Press wrote.
“I should apologize to the neighboring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,” the president said. “From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”
Still, he called Trump’s remarks urging Iran to surrender “a dream that they should take to their grave.”
Trump’s Saturday post was criticized by Iran Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on X, who said that Pezeshkian’s “openness to de-escalation within our region” was almost immediately killed by the president’s “misinterpretation of our capabilities, determination and intent.”
“If Mr. Trump seeks escalation, it is precisely what our Powerful Armed Forces have long been prepared for, and what he will get,” Araghchi said. “Responsibility for any intensification of Iran’s exercise of self-defense will lie squarely with the U.S. Administration.”
Other Iranian officials indicated, though, that attacks will not stop.
“As long as the presence of U.S. bases in the region continue, the countries will not enjoy peace. Iranian officials and people are united on this principle,” Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X.
Despite the Iranian president’s apology, the AP wrote, sirens rang out in Bahrain early Saturday after Iran targeted it, and Saudi Arabia said it destroyed drones headed toward the Shaybah oil field. It also shot down a ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia said.
Several blasts were heard in Dubai Saturday morning. The government said it activated air defenses and long-haul carrier Emirates briefly suspended, and then resumed, all flights to and from Dubai.
On Saturday afternoon, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said armed forces intercepted a missile attack.
In Kuwait, the Ministry of Defense said it responded early Sunday to a wave of drones entering its airspace, that targeted “critical infrastructure.”
Israel struck western Iran, hitting a Tehran airport it claimed was used to transfer supplies to militant groups. Meanwhile, in Israel, people went to bomb shelters due to missiles from Iran, the AP wrote.
Later on Saturday, Israeli forces said they struck several fuel storage complexes in Iran.
At least 1,332 Iranian civilians were killed so far since the conflict started, the country’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said.
There have been more than 200 deaths in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to the AP. Six American troops died on March 1 during an unmanned aircraft system attack in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
The U.S., Israel and Iran all maintain that they are targeting military sites, not civilian ones.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
