Analysis: how should we interpret Pezeshkian’s statement?
Patrick Wintour
The announcement by Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian that Iran will no longer attack Gulf and neighbouring states if they are not attacking Iran appears on the surface a significant change in tactics, reflecting the overpowering diplomatic pressure Iran was under to change course, or risk uniting the whole of the Arab world against Iran. It would be an admission that Iran’s current military strategy is heading for diplomatic disaster.
But the precise implications of his announcement remains open to interpretation. An Iranian armed forces spokesperson seemed to qualify its meaning heavily by saying:
double quotation markStrikes against the US and Israeli assets will continue. So far, we have targeted every base that was the origin of aggression against Iran and we remain committed to this matter. Countries that have not provided space and facilities to the United States and the Zionist regime have not been our target so far and will not be targeted in the future.
If the armed forces believe countries simply providing land, in terms of bases, remain legitimate targets, then effectively nothing has changed since there are US bases in almost every Gulf State. What Pezeshkian seemed to imply is that these countries will not be attacked if the US bases and airspace are not being used to attack Iran, an altogether different proposition.
Whether this reflects an internal disagreement, a reinterpretation of the decision taken by Pezeshkian and other members of Iran’s temporary executive council or simply a more hardline way of explaining the political leadership’s decision, time will tell. It is a test of where power lies in Iran in wartime.
But it was significant too that Pezeshkian chose to apologise and to argue Iran wanted to be on the right side of international law. Many lawyers claimed Iran’s attacks on US bases in the region could be justified as acts of self-defence, but the wider attacks on Gulf infrastructure and oil installations could not.
If Pezeshkian’s promise is translated into reality then Iran hopes the path to reunite the region and the focus can shift back to what it regards as the injustice of the US attacks in the midst of diplomacy.
The pressure to relent has been coming from all the Gulf states, but notably countries that have tried to be close to Iran, including Oman, Turkey and Qatar. Some of the phone conversations have been said to be seething.
Updated at 05.23 EST
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IDF: Forces carried out raid in Lebanon to locate remains of Israeli soldier Ron Arad
The Israeli military said its special forces carried out a raid in Lebanon to locate the remains of Lt Col Ron Arad, a navigator on an Israeli jet whose plane went down in southern Lebanon during a bombing raid in 1986.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) does not say where the raid took place, but Lebanese media reported earlier of a clash between armed fighters and Israeli troops in the town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa valley.
No findings relating to Arad were discovered during the operation, the IDF said, adding that there had been no Israeli casualties.
In a statement posted on X, the IDF said:
double quotation markAs part of the IDF’s activities in Lebanon, IDF special forces operated overnight in an attempt to locate evidence related to missing navigator Ron Arad. There were no casualties among our forces.
No evidence related to him was found at the search site.
The IDF will continue to operate tirelessly, day and night, with a deep commitment to bringing all our sons, the fallen and the missing, home to Israel.
Updated at 05.56 EST
IRGC says it targeted al-Dhafra airbase in UAE in ‘massive strike’ – report
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its navy launched a “massive strike” on al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
It claimed that a US satellite communication centre, early warning radars and fire control radars were targeted in the strike this morning.
The UAE has not commented on the report.
ShareHezbollah and Israeli troops clash on the ground in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley – report
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported that at least 26 people were killed, including three Lebanese soldiers, during an overnight clash with Israeli forces in the town of Nabi Chit in the eastern Bekaa valley.
The news agency said an Israeli commando unit was spotted being deployed to the area by helicopter and confronted by local residents and armed fighters in Nabi Chit. A clash ensued with heavy gunfire and Israeli airstrikes, the agency reported.
Hezbollah commented earlier today that its fighters were involved, after they “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction”.
After landing, advancing troops “were engaged by a group” of Hezbollah fighters as they reached the Nabi Chit cemetery, the group said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley overnight, but it did not comment on reports of a helicopter landing or ground operation in Nabi Chit.
Pictures: Tehran and Beirut come under continued heavy Israeli strikes
Smoke rises following an explosion in Tehran. Photograph: Naser Safarzadeh/ReutersA screengrab of a video shared on social media shows heavy fire and smoke in the direction of Tehran’s Mehrabad airport. Photograph: Social Media/ReutersAftermath of an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photograph: ReutersA man inspects damage buildings after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photograph: ReutersShareAnalysis: how should we interpret Pezeshkian’s statement?Patrick Wintour
The announcement by Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian that Iran will no longer attack Gulf and neighbouring states if they are not attacking Iran appears on the surface a significant change in tactics, reflecting the overpowering diplomatic pressure Iran was under to change course, or risk uniting the whole of the Arab world against Iran. It would be an admission that Iran’s current military strategy is heading for diplomatic disaster.
But the precise implications of his announcement remains open to interpretation. An Iranian armed forces spokesperson seemed to qualify its meaning heavily by saying:
double quotation markStrikes against the US and Israeli assets will continue. So far, we have targeted every base that was the origin of aggression against Iran and we remain committed to this matter. Countries that have not provided space and facilities to the United States and the Zionist regime have not been our target so far and will not be targeted in the future.
If the armed forces believe countries simply providing land, in terms of bases, remain legitimate targets, then effectively nothing has changed since there are US bases in almost every Gulf State. What Pezeshkian seemed to imply is that these countries will not be attacked if the US bases and airspace are not being used to attack Iran, an altogether different proposition.
Whether this reflects an internal disagreement, a reinterpretation of the decision taken by Pezeshkian and other members of Iran’s temporary executive council or simply a more hardline way of explaining the political leadership’s decision, time will tell. It is a test of where power lies in Iran in wartime.
But it was significant too that Pezeshkian chose to apologise and to argue Iran wanted to be on the right side of international law. Many lawyers claimed Iran’s attacks on US bases in the region could be justified as acts of self-defence, but the wider attacks on Gulf infrastructure and oil installations could not.
If Pezeshkian’s promise is translated into reality then Iran hopes the path to reunite the region and the focus can shift back to what it regards as the injustice of the US attacks in the midst of diplomacy.
The pressure to relent has been coming from all the Gulf states, but notably countries that have tried to be close to Iran, including Oman, Turkey and Qatar. Some of the phone conversations have been said to be seething.
Updated at 05.23 EST
Houthi official says Iran-backed militia ready to join war – report
The New York Times has reported a Houthi official as saying the Iran-backed milita in Yemen is ready to join the war.
“The expansion of the conflict to include other countries, including Yemen, is only a matter of time, and our hands are on the trigger,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi movement’s political bureau, told the newspaper.
“Ultimately, the United States will be the biggest loser in this trajectory.”
ShareSenior Tory MP defends Badenoch after ‘hanging around’ comment
In the UK, a senior Conservative MP has defended party leader Kemi Badenoch after she was criticised for suggesting the British military had been “just hanging around” in the Middle East as the Iran crises deepens.
“I don’t think she has anything to apologise for at all,” Andrew Mitchell, a Conservative MP and former deputy foreign secretary, told Times Radio.
He said Badenoch had been making the point that ministers were too slow to offer support to allies.
Badenoch made the remark on BBC Breakfast yesterday, when she was asked whether she supported firing on Iranian missile launch sites. She responded: “What else are our jets doing, just hanging around there?”
Defence secretary John Healey called on her to apologise, saying it “insults the men and women of our armed forces”.
Mitchell said: “I think she was making a point that … British ministers were slow off the mark, and should have been much quicker to support the countries in the region with whom we have very deep and close relationships.”
Updated at 05.03 EST
Dubai airport ‘partially’ resumes operations
Following a statement from Emirates that it will resume operations, Dubai airport said it was partially resuming services.
“We have partially resumed operations from today, 7 March, with some flights operating out of DXB and DWC,” it posted on social media, referring to Dubai’s main airport and Al Maktoum airport south-west of the city (which is also known as Dubai World Central).
“Please do not travel to the airport unless you have been contacted by your airline that your flight is confirmed, as schedules continue to change.”
Updated at 04.17 EST
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it has begun “a broad wave of attacks” against what it described as infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime in Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Earlier, the IDF said more than 80 air force fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran overnight.
ShareIranian naval ship docked at Indian port, says Delhi official
India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said his country has allowed an Iranian naval ship to dock at one of its ports.
Days after a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship, the Iris Dena, in the Indian ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka, Jaishankar said another Iranian vessel requested to dock in India after reporting experiencing problems.
Indian news website NDTV reported his comments at the geopolitics conference in New Delhi today, in which he outlined the sequence of events. He said:
double quotation markWe got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which presumably was closest to our borders at that point of time, wanted to come into our port. They were reporting that they were having problems. On the 1 March, we said you can come in and it took them a few days to sail in and then they docked in Kochi. There were a lot of young cadets. When the ships had set out and when they came here, the situation was totally different.
They were coming in for a fleet review, and then they got in a way caught on the wrong side of events.
He added that the ship, the Iris Lavan, had participated in the International Fleet Review – a ceremonial event designed to showcase the maritime capabilities of the Indian navy and international partners – and the multilateral naval exercise Milan 2026 in mid to late February.
“We approached the situation from the point of view of humanity, other than whatever the legal issues were and I think we did the right thing,’ Jaishankar said.
A third Iranian ship, the Iris Bushehr, which is also believed to have taken part in the fleet review, was granted permission to dock in Sri Lanka, where authorities took custody of the vessel.
Updated at 03.56 EST
Saudi and Pakistani officials discuss Iranian attacks
Saudi Arabia’s defence minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, met with Pakistan’s army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir in Saudi Arabia to discuss Iranian drone and missile attacks and the “joint measures needed to halt them”.
Both countries signed a mutual defence pact last year, which officials said at the time stipulated that “any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both”.
In a statement posted on X, the Pakistani armed forces said:
double quotation markBoth sides expressed hope and desire that brotherly country Iran would manifest prudence and sagacity to avoid any miscalculation and strengthen the hands of friendly countries seeking peaceful settlement of the crisis.
Updated at 03.32 EST
Emirates says it will resume operations
Emirates said it will resume operations after announcing it was temporarily suspending flights to and from Dubai just moments earlier.
In a new statement, the airline said:
double quotation markEmirates will resume operations. Passengers who have confirmed bookings for this afternoon’s flights may proceed to the airport. This includes customers transiting in Dubai, if their connecting flight is also operating.
Emirates continues to monitor the situation, and we will develop our operational schedule accordingly.
The AFP news agency reported that the announcements came after the aerial interception of an object near the airport, with a witness saying they heard a loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke.
ShareInterim summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s where things stand as the US-Israeli war on Iran intensifies as it moves into its second week.
The Israeli military said more than 80 air force fighter jets struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran on Saturday, after saying it was moving to a new phase of its offensive. Israeli warplanes also hammered Beirut after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s southern suburbs.
Gulf countries said they intercepted more ballistic missiles and drones on Saturday as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh attacks.
Donald Trump said that only Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” would stop the war. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian later said the US demand was a “dream that they should to take to their grave”. He also apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries, insisting Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication.
The US state department approved the sale of $151.8m worth of munitions to Israel on Friday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had targeted “separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Arab League foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss Iranian attacks on several of the group’s members, a news report said.
Clashes erupted as Israeli forces attempted a landing operation along the Lebanon-Syria border, with Hezbollah saying its fighters were involved, Lebanese official media reported on Saturday.
Mehrabad airport in Tehran had been struck early on Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Explosions were heard in Israel on Friday as its defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire.
Trump said he must have a say in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader. Iran’s UN ambassador later said the new leadership would be chosen “without any foreign interference”.
Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran about US targets in the region, according to news reports. In response US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was “not concerned” and was “tracking everything” and factoring it into battle plans.
Oil prices hit their highest prices in years with the critical shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz effectively closed down.
With news agencies
Updated at 03.41 EST
Arab League to meet over Iranian attacks
The foreign ministers of the Arab League will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss Iranian attacks on several of the group’s members, says a news report citing the bloc’s assistant secretary general.
The meeting – to be held via videoconference – was requested by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Egypt, Hossam Zaki told Agence France-Presse.
The report came shortly before the Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying he apologises to neighbouring countries.
The huge US-Israeli air campaign launched against Iran a week ago on Saturday 28 February has prompted Iranian retaliation with strikes against Israel and Gulf countries.
Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned the Iranian attacks, saying they are “fully reprehensible” and “not only a blatant violation of international law and the UN charter, but also an assault on the principles of good neighbourliness”.
He added that the attacks “create an unprecedented state of hostility between Iran and its Arab neighbours”.
ShareIranian president says unconditional surrender a ‘dream’
Iran’s president has said a demand by the US for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should to take to their grave”.
Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a prerecorded address aired by state television on Saturday.
He also apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries – as just reported – insisting that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks.
The comments, cited by the Associated Press, came as intense Iranian fire targeted the Gulf Arab states early on Saturday while Israel and the US kept up their airstrikes targeting Iran.
There were repeated attacks on Saturday morning on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Donald Trump earlier said that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” would bring an end to the offensive launched a week ago.
Updated at 02.41 EST
Iranian president apologises to neighbouring countries
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has just been quoted as saying he apologises to neighbouring countries.
“I apologise … to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” Pezeshkian said, in a speech broadcast by state TV and reported by AFP.
He also said Iran’s interim leadership council had approved that no attacks or missile strikes would be carried out against neighbouring countries unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries, Reuters is reporting.
The comments come after Iran has targeted Gulf countries hosting US forces with waves of retaliatory missile and drone strikes since the US-Israeli attacks began last Saturday.
Masoud Pezeshkian in February. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 03.08 EST
Emirates suspends all flights to and from Dubai
Emirates has just said it is suspending all flights to and from Dubai until further notice.
The airline also said in the post on X:
double quotation markPlease do not go to the airport. Emirates will share updates when available.
UAE-based airline Emirates says it is suspending all flights to and from Dubai until further notice. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/ReutersShare
Updated at 02.53 EST
Iran targets ‘separatist groups’ in Iraq’s Kurdistan
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they have targeted “separatist groups” in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
“Three locations of separatist groups in the Iraqi region [of Kurdistan] were hit … this morning,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday in a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
The statement also said:
double quotation markIf separatist groups in the region [of Kurdistan] make any move against Iran’s territorial integrity, we will crush them.
Updated at 02.35 EST
Israel says 80 jets hit Iranian military sites
The Israeli military has just said more than 80 air force fighter jets have struck “key Iranian regime military infrastructure” in Tehran and central Iran.
It said the targets included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Imam Hossein military university in the Iranian capital, which it said was “used for IRGC officer training and assembly compound”.
The Israel Defense Forces also said in the post on X that it targeted ballistic missile storage facilities and underground missile command infrastructure, as well as launch sites in western and central Iran that it claimed were aimed at Israel.
The post continued:
double quotation markThese strikes degrade the Iranian regime’s ability to fire at Israeli civilians.
⭕️Over 80 IAF fighter jets struck key Iranian regime military infrastructure in Tehran and central Iran.
Targets included:
• IRGC Imam Hossein military university—used for IRGC officer training and assembly compound
• Ballistic missile storage facilities
• Underground… pic.twitter.com/n9oz3mjxF1
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 7, 2026
The Israeli military said earlier on Saturday it had launched fresh “broad-scale” strikes on targets in Tehran.
Updated at 02.03 EST