Attack on oil depot leaves Tehran burning; U.S., Israel could raid nuclear stockpile; Iran attacks Gulf countries, despite promise.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is increasingly likely to be responsible for the strike that hit a girl's school, and Israeli strikes lead to hundreds of thousands displaced in Lebanon.
Editor’s note:
A lot happened overnight in the war with Iran. We’ve been tracking it so you don’t miss the most important developments.
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The latest news this hour:
ATTACK ON OIL DEPOT LEAVES TEHRAN BURNING: Late Saturday, huge flames and columns of smoke spread across Tehran as the capital city was set ablaze after Israel hit Iranian oil infrastructure for the first time since the start of the war. Multiple oil depots in Tehran and Alborz have been attacked, according to Iran’s Oil Minister. Israel claimed responsibility for the strike and said that it hit fuel storage and energy complexes.
Yesterday, Iran also claimed that the U.S. hit a desalination plant, which could cut off freshwater to 30 villages.
U.S., ISRAEL COULD RAID IRAN'S NUCLEAR STOCKPILE: Four sources familiar with the matter have said that the U.S. and Israel are eyeing the possibility of using special forces to seize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium farther down the line. At a congressional briefing on Tuesday, Marco Rubio, in response to a question about whether Iran’s uranium stockpile would be seized, said that “people are going to have to go and get it.” An Israeli defense official also said that the U.S. is seriously considering sending in special ops units for targeted missions.
IRAN ATTACKS GULF COUNTRIES, DESPITE PROMISE: Early on Sunday, the Gulf countries reported new missile and drone strikes, which hit fuel storage facilities. Civilian infrastructure was also damaged, including the social security building in Kuwait.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized on Friday, the day before these strikes, for Iran attacking its neighbors and promised to halt strikes on Gulf states unless attacked.
Saudi Arabia warned that if Iran didn’t stop attacking the country, it would allow the U.S. to use bases in the country.
KURDISH FIGHTERS SIGNAL PUSH INTO IRAN: An Iranian Kurdish nationalist group leader told Aljazeera that it’s “highly likely” that Iranian Kurds will push into Iran from the Iraqi side of the Iran-Iraq border. The leader added that while there is no action yet, the group has been in contact with the U.S. regarding a cross-border assault.
However, Trump said that, despite the willingness of the Kurdish fighters, he doesn’t “want the Kurds going in” and that the war’s already “complicated enough.”
INCREASINGLY LIKELY U.S. STRUCK IRANIAN SCHOOL: A U.S. official and a source familiar with the investigation told NBC that it’s becoming more likely that U.S. weapons were used in the attack that hit a girl’s elementary school in the town of Minab in Southern Iran, which killed more than 170 people.
Human Rights Watch has said that the attack needs to be investigated as a war crime. Trump commented on the strike, saying that they believed it was Iran, while Pete Hegseth, standing next to him, said that the attack was being investigated. Trump is known for making false statements.
The school was located on a complex that, about 15 years ago, was an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base, NBC reported.
IRAN IS TAKING OUT REGIONAL AIR DEFENCE: U.S. officials have reported that Iran has been striking air defense radars in the Middle East, namely in Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The technology is critical to identifying and intercepting incoming missiles. The drones destroying the radars cost much less than the radars themselves.
ISRAELI STRIKES DISPLACE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN LEBANON: Israeli strikes on Lebanon have displaced around 454,000, Lebanon’s social affairs minister announced. In recent days, Israel has intensified attacks against Hezbollah and has bombed the suburbs of Beirut.
IRANIAN SHIPS WITH MILITARY SUPPLIES LEAVE CHINESE PORT: Two ships that have previously been found to be transiting military components to Tehran were found leaving a Chinese port linked to military chemicals, according to tracking data analyzed by the Washington Post. Experts have reported that it is significant that China has allowed the ship to set sail for Iran, given that the country is in direct confrontation with the U.S.
Editor’s note:
A lot happened overnight in the war with Iran. We’ve been tracking it so you don’t miss the most important developments.
Want a fresh news roundup in your inbox every day? Subscribe for free now!
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Alessandra
*Correction: Iran War Dispatches updated its subheading to remove confusion about the actors responsible for the two separate stories in the sentence.
We apologize for the lack of clarity.
I recently heard an interview with a former military guy who explained how AI has reduced the “targeting cycle” from days to hours, or even minutes, allowing hundreds or thousands of targets to be identified quickly. Given that the school used to be part of the adjacent IRGC compound until it was carved off around 2014, I’m betting that the U.S. targeting of the school building along with the rest of the IRGC compound’s buildings is going to turn out to have been an AI targeting mistake. One that was not corrected by human oversight.
EDIT: Since I wrote my Quora answer (linked below) the Pentagon seems to be well on its way to confirming my guess.
https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-United-States-use-missiles-to-bomb-an-Iranian-primary-school-killing-at-least-165-girls/answer/Ray-Lowe-1?ch=17&oid=1477743901973042&share=cc1a708d&srid=Jt4c&target_type=answer