More strikes pound Tehran
Pezeshkian apologizes to neighbor countries hit by Iranian weapons
A vendor sits at his stall Saturday under a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei at Tajrish square in Northern Tehran, Iran.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Iran war exploded further late Saturday as pillars of flame rose above an oil storage facility in Tehran, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "many surprises" for the next phase of the conflict.
Israel's military confirmed that it hit the fuel storage facilities in Tehran. Associated Press video showed the horizon glowing against the night sky above Tehran.
It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility was targeted in the war. State media blamed "an attack from the U.S. and the Zionist regime" at the facility that supplies the capital and neighboring provinces in the north.
Earlier in the day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacks on "neighboring countries," even as his country's missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states and hard-liners asserted that Tehran's war strategy would not change.
A rift between politicians looking to de-escalate the war and others committed to battling the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic eff orts. Conflicting Iranian statements came from two of the three members of the leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war's opening airstrikes.
Pezeshkian also dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Tehran to surrender unconditionally, saying: "That's a dream that they should take to their grave."
Trump threatened that Iran would be "hit very hard" and more "areas and groups of people" would become targets, without elaborating. The conflict rattled global markets and left Iran's leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Pezeshkian's message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy's leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets.
Pezeshkian's statement said Iran's leadership council was in touch with the armed forces and "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."
The U.S. strikes have not come from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from U.S. bases and vessels in the region.
Hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man leadership council, suggested the war strategy will not change. "The geography of some countries in the region — both overtly and covertly — is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue," he posted on social media.
"As long as the presence of U.S. bases in the region continue, the countries will not enjoy peace," Iran's Parliament speaker and a former Revolutionary Guard general, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on social media. He called defense policies in line with the late supreme leader's guidance.
Iran's U.N. mission later suggested, without offering evidence, that strikes on nonmilitary sites "may have resulted from interception by U.S. electronic defense systems."
Late Saturday, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani asserted in an address carried by state media that "our leaders are united on this issue and have no disagreements with one another."
He also said the leadership council requested that "arrangements be made" to convene the Assembly of Experts to choose the next supreme leader, but did not say when.
Trump told reporters he ruled out having Kurds join the war, though Kurdish fighters in the region were willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government. Days earlier, Kurdish officials said Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq were prepared for a potential operation in Iran and the U.S. asked Iraqi Kurds for support.
The U.S. and Israel targeted Iran's military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The war's stated goals and timelines shifted as the U.S. at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran's government or elevate new leadership.
Earlier in the day, Israel said it struck a Tehran airport it said was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups.
The fighting so far killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops were killed.
Incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters again across Israel, with no reports of casualties.
