Middle East war live: Deadly strike on Ramada hotel in central Beirut

Trump rejects settling Iran war, raises prospect of killing all its potential leaders

US President Donald Trump said he is not interested in negotiating with Iran and raised the possibility that the Iran war would only end once Tehran no longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said the air campaign could make negotiations a moot point if all potential leaders of Iran are killed and the Iranian military is destroyed.

“At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say ‘We surrender,'” Trump said.

New strikes light up the night sky in Tehran

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 week-old conflict.

Israel’s military confirmed that it hit the fuel storage facilities in Tehran. Videos showed the horizon glowing against the night sky above Tehran.

It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. State media blamed “an attack from the US and the Zionist regime” at the facility that supplies the capital and neighbouring provinces in the north.

President Trump doesn’t want Kurdish fighters to enter Iran war

He told reporters aboard Air Force One that he’s ruled out having Kurds join Iran war.

Trump says Kurdish fighters in region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government, but there involvement would make the conflict more complicated.

“The war is complicated enough without having– getting the Kurds involved,” Trump said.

Trump: ‘We’re not looking to settle’ with Iran

The president said Saturday that the US retains significant leverage over Iran and isn’t looking to negotiate with its remaining leadership.

“We’re not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “They’d like to settle. We’re not looking to settle.”

Steve Witkoff, one of his top envoys in talks with Iran, said the Tehran leadership did not seem “very amenable” during negotiations before the U.S. launched strikes.

“They told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily,” said Witkoff, referring to fellow negotiator and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. “So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude.”

During the gaggle with reporters, Trump repeatedly described the ongoing US operations in Iran as an “excursion” and said issues such as rising gas prices and the safety of Americans would be improved once the conflict ends.

Israeli drone strike hits hotel in central Beirut

An Israeli drone struck a room early Sunday in a hotel in Beirut’s Raouche district, a major seaside tourist area in the Lebanese capital with no notable Hezbollah presence, local media reported.

The strike hit the Ramada Hotel, popular with tourists and business travelers, and was heard by residents nearby.

The Lebanese health ministry said the strike killed four people and wounded 10. Israel did not immediately say who it targeted.

This is the second strike targeting a hotel since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah reignited earlier this week, after the Iran-backed group launched rockets and drones toward northern Israel, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes across Lebanon that have killed hundreds.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, an Israeli strike hit the Comfort Hotel in the Hazmieh area of Beirut, a predominantly Christian suburb east of central Beirut.

Iran unleashes barrage of missiles and drones

Qatar’s defence ministry said Iran had fired a dozen missiles at the country on Saturday as Tehran continued its strikes across the Gulf.

Six ballistic missiles were intercepted, it said, while two fell in the country’s territorial waters and two landed in an “uninhabited area.” It also said it intercepted two cruise missiles.

Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a drone attack targeting the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh, reporting no casualties or damage, while Kuwait said fuel tanks at the nation’s international airport were targeted by Iranian drones. 

Netanyahu vows to continue war with Iran with ‘all our force’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue its war with Iran “with all our force” as part of “a systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime.”

The “moment of truth” was coming for the Iranian people, he said, and Israel wanted to help liberate them from the “yoke of tyranny”. 

He added that US and Israeli air strikes had secured “almost complete control of the airspace” over Tehran.

Israel’s military said earlier it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since the start of the war a week ago.

Tehran oil depots hit

US and Israeli strikes hit an oil depot in Tehran, Iranian state media said, the first reported attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure.

The depot was close to a key oil refinery but the ILNA news agency said the refinery’s facilities were not damaged.

Strikes also hit a depot in northwestern Tehran, according to an AFP journalist who saw flames and smoke rising from the site. 

Separately, Israel said it hit 16 military aircraft belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in overnight strikes on Mehrabad airport, in Tehran.

Human Rights Watch says strike on Iranian school must be investigated as war crime

Human Rights Watch released a statement Saturday saying that the strike on an Iranian school that killed dozens of children in Minab in southern Iran on 28 February must be investigated as a war crime.

The Iranian government has blamed the US-Israeli coalition for the attack but neither nation has claimed responsibility.

“A prompt and thorough investigation is needed into this attack, including if those responsible should have known that a school was there and that it would be full of children and their teachers before midday,” said Sophia Jones, a researcher for HRW. “Those responsible for an unlawful attack should be held to account, including prosecutions of anyone responsible for war crimes.”

On Saturday, Trump accused Iran of being behind the deadly school explosion despite evidence suggesting it was most likely a US airstrike.

Kuwait airport, Saudi Arabia targeted as Iran presses Gulf attacks

Gulf nations reported on Sunday missiles and drone attacks, while Iran vowed to press on with strikes against neighbouring countries as the regional war entered its second week.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait all reported new attacks, after loud explosions were heard in Dubai and Bahrain’s Manama a day earlier. 

Kuwait’s national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to its crude production, as the country’s military said Sunday it had responded “to a wave of hostile drones that penetrated the country’s airspace”.

Fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport were targeted in a drone attack, the military added.

It called the drone attack “a direct targeting of vital infrastructure”.

Lebanon says Israeli strike on Beirut hotel kills four

Lebanon’s health ministry said Sunday that an Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut killed at least four people and wounded 10 others.

An AFP photographer at the bombarded seafront hotel saw one room with shattered windows, while security forces cordoned off the area.

The Israeli military earlier announced it had “begun an additional wave of strikes in Beirut”, but said it was targeting the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.