Pezeshkian apologizes for attacks on Gulf neighbors even as Iran forces step up strikes

Iran’s president apologized Saturday for attacks on regional countries even as its missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states, indicating that Tehran’s political leadership either cannot or does not seek to exercise full command over Iran’s armed forces. He also rejected US President Donald Trump’s repeated demands for surrender.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, one member of a tripartite leadership council overseeing Iran since a Feb. 28 airstrike started the war and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered the defiant message exactly one week into a conflict that has spread across the region, rattled global markets and air travel and left Iran’s own leadership greatly weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.

The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry without professional broadcast equipment, underlined the limited role being played by the theocracy’s political leaders as regards its paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a US-designated terrorist organization which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and others. It answered only to Khamenei and now appears to be picking its own targets as the conflict widens.

Shortly after Pezeshkian’s message, Trump warned in a social media post Saturday that more Iranian officials would become targets in the war, writing: “Today Iran will be hit very hard!” in his comments on his Truth Social website.

“Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Trump also noted the apology by Pezeshkian.

“This promise was only made because of the relentless US and Israeli attack,” Trump wrote.

“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!”

US President Donald Trump posts on Truth Social- "Iran, which is being beaten to hell, has apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. pic.twitter.com/jKUJU34UdC

— AIBS News 24 (@AIBSNews24) March 7, 2026

While the Iranian president attempted to assuage growing Gulf Arab anger over the attacks, just hours earlier, a wave of missiles and drones had disrupted flights at Dubai International Airport, targeted a major Saudi oil facility and sent people fleeing for cover multiple times in Bahrain.

Pezeshkian also kept up his criticism of Trump’s call for Iran to unconditionally surrender to America.

“That’s a dream that they should take to their grave,” he said.

Miscommunication among Iran’s ranks

Pezeshkian’s statement Saturday said Iran’s three-man leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces over the attacks.

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

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, Iran’s armed forces spokesman, then added more confusion by saying after Pezeshkian that Tehran has “not hit countries that did not provide space for America to invade our country.”

The American strikes haven’t been coming from the Gulf Arab states, now under attack.

Likely in response to the ongoing political confusion, on Saturday, a prominent cleric in Iran, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, urged the country’s Assembly of Experts to act quickly to name a new supreme leader. Buildings associated with the 88-cleric panel have been hit by airstrikes in the war, likely slowing any meeting of the group.

“The timely realization of this important matter will lead to national authority and the best possible organization of affairs,” Shirazi said in a statement.

Early on Saturday, the Iranian army said its navy had carried out drone strikes against targets in Israel as well as US gathering points and bases in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, in an apparent response to the US attack on its ship IRIS Dena that killed dozens of sailors.

The Revolutionary Guards said they struck three positions of separatist groups in Iraq’s Kurdistan region at 4:30 a.m. local time. A spokesman for the armed forces warned that if separatist groups in the Kurdistan region took any action against Iran’s territorial integrity, “we will crush them.”

Iran strikes Gulf States as fighting spreads

In a sign of the widening nature of the conflict, sirens sounded early Saturday in Bahrain as Iranian attacks targeted the island kingdom. And Saudi Arabia said it destroyed drones headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field and shot down a ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts US forces.

In Dubai, several blasts were heard Saturday morning and the government said it had activated air defenses. Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai International Airport found themselves ushered down into train tunnels at the sprawling airfield after the alert sounded.

Watch the moment a drone struck Dubai International Airport’s runway, forcing the suspension of all flights on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/uU2msQeSX1

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 7, 2026

Later that morning, long-haul carrier Emirates said that ”all flights to and from Dubai have been suspended until further notice.” Shortly after, the decision was reversed and Emirates said the airline would resume operations.

The UAE said it intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones on Saturday.

“UAE air defence systems detected today, Saturday 7th March 2026, 16 ballistic missiles, of which, 15 were intercepted and destroyed, while one ballistic missile fell into the sea,” the Ministry of Defense said in a post on X.

“Air defence systems also detected 121 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), of which 119 were intercepted, while two fell within the territory of the UAE.”

Also Saturday, Jordan accused Iran of directly targeting sites in the kingdom, firing 119 missiles and drones in the past week.

Jordanian military spokesman Brigadier General Mustafa Hayari told a news conference that 108 of the projectiles had been intercepted. “These missiles and drones were targeting vital installations inside Jordan and were not passing through our territories,” he said.

Late Friday, the leader of the US Central Command, Brad Cooper, warned that the US would respond to Iranian attacks on civilians throughout the Middle East.

Cooper said that Iran has attacked 12 different countries since the US and Israel launched strikes on the Islamic Republic last week, including firing seven attack drones at civilian, residential neighborhoods in Bahrain on Thursday night.

“This is unacceptable and will not go unanswered,” Cooper said in a statement.

US says more intense bombing lies ahead

There was no foreseeable end to the fighting. 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,” and US officials warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign they said would be the most intense yet in the weeklong conflict.

Iran’s UN ambassador said the country would “take all necessary measures” to defend itself.

Associated Press video showed explosions flashing and smoke rising over western Tehran as Israel said it had begun a broad wave of strikes.

Also Saturday, Fox News reported that the US was expected to deploy a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

USS George H.W. Bush completed its pre-deployment training on Thursday, according to the US Navy.

The US Naval Institute reported that the carrier, its escorting warships, and air wing “wrapped up the composite unit training exercise that all carrier strike groups must do before becoming certified for national tasking.”

Fox News said that the carrier strike group “is expected to deploy soon” and head to the eastern Mediterranean, where USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was recently stationed.

USS Gerald R. Ford was seen moving through the Suez Canal on Thursday and is now in the Red Sea, according to photos released by the American military.

Meanwhile, USS Abraham Lincoln remains stationed in the Arabian Sea for strikes against Iran amid the war.

The US and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted as the US has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.

The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.

Also, early Saturday, incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters across Israel and loud booms sounded in Jerusalem. There were no immediate reports of casualties by Israel’s emergency services.