On Thursday, Iran launched a series of missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, escalating tensions in the already volatile Middle East and threatening to involve more countries in the ongoing conflict.
In Riyadh, the Saudi capital, residents witnessed ominous plumes of smoke rising as cruise missiles hit the city, marking the sixth day of intensified hostilities.
The Iranian government had issued a stern warning to the United States, promising severe repercussions after the U.S. allegedly targeted one of its warships. In response, Tehran unleashed hundreds of drones and missiles, aiming them at neighboring Arab nations.
In a dramatic show of force, the United Arab Emirates was subjected to a massive drone attack. Smoke was visible over Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, a renowned location famous for hosting the Formula 1 Grand Prix and attracting numerous tourists from around the globe.
As the UAE confirmed an attack involving a ballistic missile and a swarm of 131 suicide drones, emergency alerts were broadcasted across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Fujairah. These warnings urged both residents and tourists to exercise caution and prioritize their safety.
In Abu Dhabi, six individuals sustained injuries due to falling debris, a consequence of the successful interception of drones by the region’s air defense systems.
Explosions were also heard in Qatar and Kuwait while an Iranian missile struck Bahrain’s largest petroleum refinery, capable of producing 267,000 barrels of oil per day, sending a huge fireball into the sky.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan became the latest country dragged into the escalating conflict as Iranian-made drones struck the country near the border with Iran and injured four civilians. One hit the terminal building of an airport in Nakhchivan, sparking a fire, and the other came down beside a nearby school.
An American submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean yesterday, killing at least 80 people, Hegseth confirmed during a press conference at the White House
The ship was seen sinking in footage released by the US government on Wednesday
Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of ‘terrorism’ and threatened retaliation as he demanded an apology and explanation. However, Tehran denied the allegation and blamed Israel, Azerbaijan’s ally, of trying to stage a provocation.
The Iranians claimed a US oil tanker was on fire after being hit in the Strait of Hormuz, though images of the unconfirmed attack had yet to emerge by Thursday night.
Iranian military is targeting American sites and energy infrastructure in the region in retaliation for the US-Israeli air offensive which killed its supreme leader and several senior officials.
The American embassy in Riyadh issued a security threat after Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said three Iranian cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed outside nearby Al-Kharj.
But Iran denied attacking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia after it was struck with drones on Tuesday night.
‘We confirmed that Iran has no role in the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh,’ Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alireza Enayati said.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force said it has dropped more than 5,000 munitions on Iran since the conflict started on Saturday. Pictures coming out of Tehran show the destruction levelled on the country with extensive damage to key buildings in the capital and the sports stadium severely damaged.
The Israeli military said it also launched targeted attacks in Lebanon at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and a ‘large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure’ in Iran’s capital, without elaborating.
In one of the few clerical statements so far from Iran, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli used state television to call for ‘the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood’.
The latest exchanges came after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship, the Iris Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka on Tuesday night, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors with a further 70 missing and presumed drowned.
Rescuers plucked 32 survivors from the Indian Ocean while 87 bodies were recovered from the water. Pictured: An injured Iranian soldier is taken into a hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka, after the strike
In Israel, at least nine people were killed in an Iranian missile strike on the city of Beit Shemesh (pictured)
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the ship had been hit by a torpedo and had died a ‘quiet death’. It is the first time a US submarine has sunk an enemy warship by torpedo since the Second World War.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi decried it as ‘an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores’, and warned the US would ‘bitterly regret’ it.
Sri Lankan officials said they had evacuated more than 200 crew members from a second Iranian naval vessel.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his navy would take custody of the second ship and move it to the northeastern port of Trincomalee for safekeeping, amid fears it could be targeted. He added that his government had held discussions with Iranian officials and the captain of the ship.
It also emerged on Thursday that Iranian bombers were just ‘minutes away’ from striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East before Qatari planes shot them down.
The IRGC flew two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers towards al-Udeid Air Base, which houses around 10,000 US military personnel, on Monday morning.
But a Qatari F-15 fighter jet managed to down them after engaging in ‘aerial combat’, a source told CNN.
