Welcome to our live coverage of the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran and its proxies.
US President Donald Trump has warned that Iran “will be hit very hard” on Saturday (Sunday AET) as the US forces’ “Operation Epic Fury” enters its second week.
“Today Iran will be hit very hard! 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,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Elsewhere, Turkey is considering the possibility of sending F-16 fighter jets to Northern Cyprus as a security measure, a Turkish defence ministry source said on Saturday.
Cyprus, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, has been directly affected by retaliatory attacks to US-Israeli strikes on Iran, with an Iranian-made drone hitting a British base on the island earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, Dubai’s main airport, a key global transport hub, was forced to briefly close on Saturday as Iran launched missiles and drones at targets across The Gulf.
The barrage came despite Iran’s president apologising to neighbouring countries for its attacks, claiming they would no longer be targeted unless strikes were launched from their territory.
Attacks were reported on Saturday in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, with the Emirates saying it was targeted with 16 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones.
Read on for more updates.
