Iran claimed on Sunday attacks on two major aluminium plants in the Gulf, further raising the economic stakes of the Middle East war after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis joined the conflict.
The war that began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran has mushroomed throughout the region, sending world energy markets into a tailspin and threatening to torpedo the global economy.
With the official status of talks between Washington and Tehran uncertain, daily salvoes of strikes across the region have continued unabated.
In Iranian capital Tehran, two blasts shook northern areas of the city early on Sunday, according to an AFP journalist, although it was not clear what was targeted.
Iran for its part fired a volley of missiles and drones at plants belonging to two of the world’s largest aluminium producers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the country’s Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday, targeting what they described as industries linked to the US military.
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said an Iranian attack wounded six and caused significant damage to its plant, while Bahraini state media said two Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) employees were injured in a second Iranian attack, without providing more details.
As the spectre of a widening conflict grew, Yemen’s Houthis on Saturday claimed their first attack of the war, before the rebels said they fired “a barrage of cruise missiles and drones” at strategic sites in Israel.
The attacks raised concern about the war spreading to the Red Sea, with Saudi Arabia rerouting much of its oil exports there to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it has closed to shipping from hostile powers.
During Israel’s recent war in Gaza, the Houthis, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing companies to take costly detours.
Israel’s military said it struck the headquarters of Iran’s Marine Industries Organisation in Tehran, saying the facility developed “a wide range of naval weaponry”.
An AFP journalist in Tehran reported intense explosions and a plume of black smoke overnight. Today NZT, another wave of blasts rang out in the capital for several minutes, with no immediate word on what was targeted.
An Israeli military spokesman said attacks on Iranian military industry had intensified and “within a few days, we will complete attacks on all critical components”.
“I miss a peaceful night’s sleep,” an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying the previous night’s strikes were “so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking”.
“We are powerless to change a government that kills, and we don’t want this war either. We just want a normal, simple life.”
The conflict began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engulfing the region in conflict, sending energy prices soaring and prompting diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting.
Pakistan, acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, will host foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday for talks on the crisis.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian thanked Islamabad “for its mediation efforts to stop the aggression”, while Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday that he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan “very soon”.
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said such a meeting could take place next week, and promoted a 15-point plan that Washington says “could solve it all”.
With Hormuz all but impassable, many Gulf shipments have been rerouted through Oman’s Salalah port on the Arabian Sea, but Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations there were temporarily suspended after a drone attack.
Fire broke out after Iranian missiles and drones struck the Khalifa Economic Zone in Abu Dhabi, injuring six people. Emirates Global Aluminium reported significant damage.
Air travel has also been disrupted, with authorities in Kuwait and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan reporting airport facilities hit in strikes.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a former paramilitary coalition, integrated into the armed forces but containing pro-Iran factions, said three fighters were killed in a strike near Kirkuk, while the Interior Ministry said two police officers died in another in Mosul.
Both were blamed on the US and Israel.
In Iran, the Khuzestan Steel Company said production was shut down at a major southwest steel plant following US-Israeli strikes, according to the Shargh newspaper.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would retaliate for economic damage by striking industrial sites across the region.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left his war-torn country for a Gulf visit to discuss leveraging his nation’s anti-drone expertise to help the region defend against Iranian strikes.
“We are talking about a 10-year co-operation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates,” he told reporters.
In Israel, hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities for protests against the war, which security forces sought to disperse.
“No one’s thought how the hell we’re going to get out of [the war], and there’s no end in sight,” said protester Joanne Levine, 76.
- Agence France-Presse