Tehran warns Europe to stay out of conflict or face ‘retaliation’ – as it happened | US-Israel war on Iran

The US state department has approved the sale of $151.8m worth of munitions to Israel on Friday amid the escalating Middle East war.

The sale of 12,000 requested 1,000-pound (470km) bomb bodies was approved by the state department’s bureau of political-military affairs, according to a press release on Friday.

“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the bureau said in a statement cited by AFP.

Donald Trump has announced he will go to Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday with his wife, Melania, and members of his cabinet “to pay our highest respect to our great warriors who are returning home for the last time”.

The president has expressed little regret for the deaths of six US service members this week in the war with Iran he launched last Saturday from his beach club. On Wednesday, he told a Time magazine reporter, “some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” Trump said when he announced the start of the US-Israeli attack on Iran last Saturday.

In a video statement released by the White House on Sunday, Trump sent his “immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen”, before adding, “and, sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is. Likely be more.”

What the Pentagon calls the “dignified transfer” of remains at the air force base, scheduled for Saturday, is a ritual in honour of US troops killed during their military service.

The six members of the US army reserve, who worked in logistics, died on Sunday when a drone strike hit a command centre in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

Drones struck airports and oil facilities in Iraq on Friday, and US-led forces shot down several over the Kurdish city of Erbil after a warning of possible attacks on hotels.

New strikes blamed on Iran hit Iranian Kurdish opposition group targets in the northern Kurdistan region, after reports that militants might attempt to cross into Iran.

Agence France also reports that late on Friday, Baghdad international airport – which houses a military base and a US diplomatic facility – “came under a series of attacks” with drones and missiles, a security official said. Another security source confirmed there was a drone attack followed by a fire at the airport.

Hours earlier, Iraqi authorities said rockets targeted the facility from the Abu Ghraib area near Baghdad.

In the southern province of Basra, an oil facility housing foreign energy companies came under attack twice, with a security official saying late on Friday that “two drones were shot down over the Burjesia oil complex but a third got through” and hit the site.

Reuters quoted security sources as saying fire broke out in offices and warehouses belonging to US firms Halliburton and KBR after the Basra attacks.

Earlier, the facility was struck along with another oil field as well as Basra’s airport, a security source said.

In the northern autonomous Kurdistan region – which hosts US troops – explosions sounded on Friday near the airport in Erbil, the capital.

“The international coalition forces downed four explosive-laden drones over Erbil,” Kurdish security forces said.

A second British government-chartered flight from the Middle East has landed at Gatwick airport in England.

The Titan Airways repatriation flight that landed at 12.30am on Saturday had departed from Muscat international airport in Oman at 5.33pm before a short layover in Cairo on Friday, PA Media is reporting.

The latest evacuees join about 6,500 Britons who have returned from the United Arab Emirates since widespread conflict began in the region a week ago.

More than 160,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the Middle East with the UK government.

As Israel’s military said on Saturday it had launched fresh “broad-scale” strikes on targets in Tehran, Iran’s state broadcaster said there had been an explosion in the capital’s west.

The Israeli military said earlier that another round of Iranian missile launches were detected heading towards Israel.

A series of blasts were heard in Tel Aviv after the launches.

The Israeli emergency services, Magen David Adom, reportedly said it received no reports of casualties after the barrage.

The military said people were free to leave their shelters “in all areas” of the country.

• Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned European nations that they will become legitimate targets if they become involved in the US and Israel’s war on Tehran. If any country “joins America and Israel in the aggression against Iran, they will be also legitimate targets for Iran’s retaliation,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi told France 24. He said Iranian officials had been “negotiating in good faith” with the US before Washington decided to attack with Israel on Saturday. “We do not trust the Americans. Not only did they betray us, but they betrayed diplomacy.”

• Iran’s UN ambassador said that at least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed so far in the US-Israeli war on Tehran, with thousands more injured, and accused the US and Israel of war crimes. Amir Saeid Iravani told reporters at the UN’s headquarters in New York that the US and Israel “have demonstrated that they recognise no red line in committing their crimes”. He accused the two countries of “indiscriminate” attacks that were “deliberately” targeting “densely populated” civilian areas and infrastructure, including schools, medical, recreational and sports facilities. “These acts constitute clear war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said.

• Meanwhile, the US military campaign against Iran may take as long as four to six weeks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding that the US is “well on its way” toward controlling Iranian airspace. It comes as Trump met with leading US weapons manufacturers at the White House and said they had agreed to “quadruple Production of ‘Exquisite Class’ Weaponry”.

• Leavitt added that the US would consider Iran in a state of “unconditional surrender” once Donald Trump determines the country no longer “poses a threat” to the United States. Trump said on Friday that only Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” will bring an end to the joint US-Israeli offensive launched seven days ago.

• The Russian and Iranian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian, held a phone call today in which they agreed to continue contacts, the Kremlin said. It comes amid reports that Moscow has been providing Tehran with the locations of US military assets, including warships and aircraft, in the region. The White House earlier declined to confirm those reports.

• The UN secretary-general called on nations to “stop the fighting and get to serious diplomatic negotiations”, warning that the situation “could spiral beyond anyone’s control”. “The stakes could not be higher,” António Guterres wrote in a post on X.

• Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Iranian military told Iranian state tv that Tehran does not plan to close the strait of Hormuz, but will target any ship belonging to Israel or the United States. It comes as the US-Israeli war on Iran has driven the oil price past $90 a barrel to its highest weekly gains since the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, threatening a fresh rise in global inflation.

• French president Emmanuel Macron condemned an Israeli strike that directly hit a UN site in Lebanon earlier today, critically injuring two Ghanaian soldiers serving with the UN’s peacekeeping mission there.

• Qatar’s defence ministry said that the country’s air defence systems were “subjected to waves of attacks” from Iranian drones on Friday, starting at dawn and continuing until evening. It said that of the 10 drones that were launched towards Qatar, nine were intercepted while the tenth hit an uninhabited area, causing no injuries.

French president Emmanuel Macron has held phone conversations with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, amid growing fears that the US-Israeli war on Iran is fast expanding to other parts of the Middle East.

In a post on X, Macron said:

France is working with its partners to prevent the conflict from spreading further in the region. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and Lebanon must be respected, as must the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country in the region. The ongoing acts of destabilization must leave no room for terrorism. France will ensure that this is the case.

Macron also condemned an Israeli strike that directly hit a United Nations site in Lebanon earlier today, critically injuring two Ghanaian soldiers serving with the UN’s peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

As the United Nations force in Lebanon plays a fundamental role in achieving stability in southern Lebanon, I strongly condemn the unacceptable attack today that targeted members of its unit. France will remain committed there.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister earlier warned European nations that they will become legitimate targets if they become involved in the US and Israel’s war on Tehran.

If any country “joins America and Israel in the aggression against Iran, they will be also legitimate targets for Iran’s retaliation,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi told France 24.

He said Iranian officials had been “negotiating in good faith” with the US before Washington decided to attack with Israel on Saturday.

We do not trust the Americans. Not only did they betray us, but they betrayed diplomacy.

He described Tehran’s latest moves as defensive, saying that “this war was imposed on us” by the US and Israel.

We now have more on that phone call between Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian and Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president expressed his condolences for the deaths of Iran’s supreme leader, other government officials and civilians around the country, the Kremlin said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Putin also reiterated Russia’s stance that the hostilities must end immediately, and that a diplomatic resolution must be found.

Pezeshkian, meanwhile, expressed gratitude for Russia’s support, and provided a detailed report of Iran’s developments.

“It was agreed that contacts with the Iranian side will continue via various channels,” the Kremlin said.

It comes amid reports that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence to target US forces in the region (see my earlier post).

My colleague Shrai Popat reported earlier that, asked whether Russia’s involvement in the Iran conflict affects US efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House still believes peace is “an achievable objective,” but declined to confirm whether Moscow has supplied information to Tehran.