Iran on Saturday, March 14, threatened for the first time to attack infrastructure of a neighbouring country, urging people to evacuate three major ports in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) it claimed the US military was using to launch strikes on Iran.
The warning sharpens fears of an escalating war on the vital infrastructure for global energy supplies, as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Gulf neighbours, saying it targets US assets even as airports and oil facilities have been hit or threatened. America and Israel have struck thousands of targets across Iran during the war, now in its third week.
Meanwhile, Israel’s war against Hezbollah has deepened Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis, with about 800 people killed and more than 8,50,000 displaced.
Mizan, Iran’s official judiciary news agency, claimed that US forces are located in the civilian ports of Jebel Ali, Khalifa and Fujairah in the UAE – making the ports “legitimate targets” for Iranian attacks.
The news agency urged people in and around those ports to immediately evacuate, saying the facilities “may be targeted in the coming hours.”
Earlier Saturday, a drone interception sparked a fire near Fujairah’s port but there were no casualties, according to the Fujairah media office.
During the war, Gulf Arab states have faced seemingly unending and occasionally fatal Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting oil fields, cities and critical infrastructure.
Jebel Ali Port in Dubai is the busiest in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday pledged to bomb “the hell out of” the Strait of Hormuz shoreline, vowing to keep the critical waterway open “one way or another” as Iran threatens to block passage for vessels belonging to its enemies and their allies.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said several countries affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the strait would be sending warships to the region in conjunction with the US. He specifically called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK to deploy ships, saying the Hormuz Strait would “no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
The US President acknowledged the challenge ahead, noting it was “easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile” in the waterway. “In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that Tehran would strike facilities belonging to US companies in the Middle East if its own energy infrastructure came under attack.
“If Iranian facilities are targeted, our forces will target facilities of American companies in the region or companies in which the United States has shares,” Araghchi said, according to news agency YCJ. He added that Iran would “act with caution so that densely populated areas are not targeted” in any retaliatory strikes.
Araghchi also warned that while the Strait of Hormuz remains open, Iran would not allow oil tankers and vessels belonging to “enemies and their allies” to pass through the waterway.
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had conducted around 400 air raids on western and central Iran since the start of its current campaign, targeting Iranian “military infrastructure.”
More than 200 sites were struck in the past 24 hours alone, the military said in a statement. The strikes targeted ballistic missile launchers – some of which it claimed were prepared to fire towards Israel – as well as air defence systems and weapons storage facilities.
Kuwait said on Saturday it had detected seven hostile drones over the past 24 hours, with three shot down and two crashing outside the threat zone, a spokesperson for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defence said. Two of the drones targeted Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, one of Kuwait’s key military installations that houses US forces, the ministry added.
In a post on X Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said that by providing drone support to Israel, Ukraine has “effectively become involved in the war.” He said the entire country became a target for Iran.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the damaged structures included 36,469 residential units and 6,179 commercial facilities, according to state-run IRNA news agency.
Iran hasn’t provided any information about military losses and damage.
Mohajerani, meanwhile, said the war has taken a heavy toll on women, with 223 women and girls killed and 2,129 others wounded since February 28. She didn’t provide an overall death toll, but previously authorities have said that 1,230 people have been killed.
Tehran also said 52 cultural sites were damaged in the US-Israeli strikes. The sites include museums and historic monuments across Iran, authorities said.
The Cultural Heritage Ministry said the latest strikes in the city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province seriously damaged the Asef Mansion, Salar Saeid Mansion and Khosro Abad Mansion, according to Mizan, the judiciary’s official news agency.
Some of the sites date back several centuries and are dedicated to Kurdish culture.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the airstrike hit an apartment in the southern city of Sidon. It gave no other details. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli attacks has reached 826, with 2,009 people wounded since March 2.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned that Israel risks dragging the region into fresh instability and what he called a “new genocide” in Lebanon under the pretext of fighting Hezbollah, as he urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations to prevent the conflict from escalating further.
Speaking in Ankara, Fidan said Turkey had intercepted a missile fired towards the country and confirmed that Ankara remains in contact with Iranian officials. “The war must end as soon as possible. We are concerned about the spread of the war,” he said, warning that continued attacks risked creating “an inescapable spiral.”
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah who was ousted in the 1979 revolution, has declared himself ready to lead a transition of power in Iran “as soon as the Islamic Republic falls.”
In a message posted on his social media channels, the US-based Pahlavi said he has already been working to identify and evaluate individuals both inside and outside Iran to serve on what he described as a “Transitional System” under his leadership.
Pahlavi leads one of several Iran opposition movements based outside the country. His prominence grew after January protests against the government, during which some demonstrators called for a return of the monarchy.
This post was last modified on March 14, 2026 10:33 pm