US-Iran war live updates: Trump says US will ‘hit Iran very hard’ today; Operations partially resume at Dubai airport as missile threats continue

Kuwait has implemented a precautionary reduction in crude oil production and refining throughput following the ongoing attacks by Iran.

The state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation cited “Iranian threats to safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz” as the reason for the reduction in a statement on Saturday.

KPC said the move was part of its “risk management and business continuity strategy”, adding that the adjustment was strictly precautionary and would be reviewed as the situation develops, and it remained ready to restore production levels once conditions allow.

Reuters

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought to clarify Iran’s position after he apologised to neighbouring nations hit by Iranian strikes in a televised speech.

Pezeshkian said Iran would not fire at its neighbours, unless they attacked first, but this claim was at odds with reports following the speech that the United Arab Emirates continued to be targeted.

US President Donald Trump then sought to cast the apology as a surrender, declaring victory for US-allied Arab Gulf states over Iran.

But in a new post to X, Pezeshkian says Iran has an “inherent right to defend itself against military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime”.

“Iran’s defensive operations are exclusively against targets and facilities that are the origin and source of aggressive actions against the Iranian nation, and we consider them legitimate targets,” he wrote.

“We have not attacked our friendly and neighbouring countries; rather, we have targeted US military bases, facilities, and installations in the region.”

Earlier, the deputy of communications for the Iranian president’s office clarified the meaning of Pezeshkian’s televised message.

“President Pezeshkian’s message is clear: if the countries in the region do not cooperate with the US in its attacks on us, we will not attack them,” he says.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran never bows to force, and our powerful armed forces, in accordance with the issued guidelines, will give a decisive response to any aggression from American bases.”

US President Donald Trump plans to join grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Saturday at the dignified transfer for the six US soldiers killed in the war in the Middle East.

The dignified transfer, a ritual that returns the remains of US service members killed in action, is considered one of the most sombre duties of any commander in chief. During his first term, Trump said bearing witness to the transfer was “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.

On his social media platform Friday night, Trump wrote: “I will be going to Dover Air Force Base tomorrow, with the First Lady and Members of my Cabinet, to pay our Highest Respect to our Great Warriors, who are returning home for the last time. GOD BLESS THEM ALL!”

Those killed in action were Nicole Amor, 39, Cody Khork, 35, Robert Marzan, 54, Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, Noah Tietjens, 42 and Declan Coady, 20.

The six members of the Army Reserve, who were killed by a drone strike at a command centre in Kuwait, were all from the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies. They died one day after the US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran.

During the ritual, transfer cases draped with the American flag and holding the remains of the fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that transported them to an awaiting vehicle to take them to the mortuary facility at the Delaware base. There, the service members are prepared for their final resting place.

AP

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli airstrikes on the eastern town of Nabi Chit and nearby have left 41 dead and 40 wounded.

The area witnessed intense clashes and airstrikes overnight after an Israeli force landed there and clashed with local gunmen.

The Lebanese army said the dead included three Lebanese troops.

The Israeli force was looking for information about Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who went missing after his fighter jet crashed in Lebanon 40 years ago.

The Israeli military said it did not find Arad’s remains.

AP

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has warned residents of a northern Israeli city near the border with Lebanon to evacuate and head south.

Hezbollah did not specify what action, if any, it planned to take against the city, which lies only a few kilometres from the border.

“Warning. All residents of Kiryat Shmona are asked to evacuate immediately. Head south,” it said in a statement.

Lebanon was pulled into the widening US-Israel war with Iran on Monday after Hezbollah, an Iranian-aligned group, fired rockets and drones into Israel. Israel responded with heavy strikes across Lebanon’s south, east and near Beirut.

Tens of thousands of Israelis living in the north evacuated their homes after war broke out in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in 2023, as Hezbollah began firing rockets and other projectiles at northern communities.

Residents returned after a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has this week repeatedly urged Israelis in the north to remain in their homes, saying the military will protect them.

Reuters

Jordan has been attacked with 119 missiles and drones since the US and Israel launched a war against Iran a week ago, authorities said on Saturday.

Fourteen people have been injured in the attacks.

Military spokesman Brigadier General Mustafa Hiyari told a news conference Saturday the attacks were aimed at “purely Jordanian targets.” He said no attacks against Iran originated from Jordan.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amer Sartawi said most of the casualties suffered minor injuries from falling shrapnel.

AP

Trump’s claim that Iran has surrendered to its Middle East neighbours is at odds with the statements we heard earlier from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pezeshkian did apologise to Gulf Arab states for the Iranian missile and drone strikes, indicating that Tehran’s political leadership could not exercise full command over Iran’s armed forces.

“I should apologise to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran, on my own behalf,” the president said.

“From now on, they should not attack neighbouring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy.”

Hours after the speech, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their drones struck a US air combat centre at Al Dhafra Air Base, near Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, reports that couldn’t be independently verified.

But Trump’s casting of Pezeshkian’s apology as a surrender does not align with other comments he made in the same speech.

Pezeshkian said the “idea that we would surrender unconditionally — they must take such a dream to the grave”.

With Reuters

US President Donald Trump says Iran has “apologised and surrendered” to the US-allied neighbours it has been attacking in a post on Truth Social, while also vowing to “hit [Iran] very hard today”.

Trump said that Iran had been “beat to HELL” and has “promised that it will not shoot at them anymore”.

“This promise was only made because of the relentless US and Israeli attack. They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East,” he wrote.

“It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries.”

Trump then claimed that the countries had thanked him personally, to which he told them, “You’re welcome!”

“Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!”

Trump concluded his post by announcing that Iran will be “hit very hard!” today.

“Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”

Strait of Hormuz transit remains near a standstill for a sixth day, with Iran-linked tankers the only large vessels making the crossing in the past 24 hours.

During the observed window, one Iran-linked supertanker departed the Persian Gulf, according to vessel-tracking data.

In the opposite direction, one liquefied petroleum gas carrier entered. Both ships are sanctioned by the US.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy artery, has effectively flat lined following several attacks on merchant ships. Missile and drone activity continues to pose a critical risk to all vessels in the vicinity.

The inability to move oil tankers into and out of the Gulf means storage tanks are filling, and some refineries have cut capacity. Iraq has been forced to scale back production, and Kuwait has reportedly followed while Saudi Arabia is rerouting exports to terminals in the Red Sea.

By Friday, there were just nine empty supertankers in the Gulf, tracking data shows.

Almost seven per cent of global fertiliser exports, close to six per cent of precious metals,5.3 per cent of aluminum and aluminum products and 4.4 per cent of cement and other non-metallic minerals are shipped out of Persian Gulf ports and are at risk of disruption.

Bloomberg

Good evening and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

As we head into the Australian night, here’s what we covered today.

• Challenges continue for people trying to leave the Middle East via airports. Dubai’s international airport briefly suspended all operations on Saturday night, after an Iranian missile hit the world’s busiest transit hub.
• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries. In a recorded statement on Iranian television, he said that Tehran would halt them and suggested they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks. He blamed the killing of the country’s supreme leader and other top officials for what sounded like a loss of command and control in the armed forces in recent days.
• Not long after this, Qatar said it had intercepted another missile attack.
• Israeli warplanes have hammered Beirut and Tehran across the day. The death toll has continued to rise on Saturday with at least 1230 people killed in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Another 22 people have been reported killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours. At 7.20pm, Israel said it had begun another round of strikes in Tehran and Isfahan.
• Two officials familiar with US intelligence said Russia had provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region.
• US President Donald Trump’s administration approved a new $151 million arms sale to Israel after Trump said he would not negotiate with Iran without its “unconditional surrender”. Pezeshkian rejected this idea in his televised statement, saying it was a dream the US would take to their graves.