Iran's president apologizes to neighbors, defies US demands

US President Donald Trump has said he is not interested in negotiating a deal with Iran to end the war.

In remarks to reporters on Air Force One on Saturday evening, Trump added peace talks could be a moot point if the joint US-Israeli campaign achieves its objectives of crippling Tehran's leadership and destroying the country's military capabilities.

"At some point, I don't think there will be anybody left, maybe, to say, 'We surrender,'" Trump said.

Use the slider to reveal the extent of the damage to a girls' elementary school in Minab, southern Iran.

Iran says at least 175 people, including many schoolchildren, were killed when a girls' elementary school in Minab was hit in an airstrike last Saturday.

Foreign media have been unable to verify Tehran's claims about the strike on the girls' school, which was reportedly close to sites that are controlled by the IRGC.

Israel has said it was "not aware" of the reported strike. The White House has pushed back against allegations that the US military was responsible, while the Pentagon has said that it is investigating the matter.

According to reports in US media, however, American military investigators believe that US forces were likely behind the strike.

If a US role were to be confirmed, the strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday accused Iran of being behind the strike.

"We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Sascha Bruchmann, a defense and military researcher, provided DW with a detailed analysis of the current state of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran and the effectiveness of Iranian defences.

From targeting Iran's nuclear program to hinting at regime change, President Donald Trump keeps moving the goal posts for the US military campaign against Iran. The conflict lacks a clear legal basis under international law, experts say.

US President Donald Trump has said he does not want Kurdish rebel forces to launch an attack against Iran.

His remarks to reporters aboard the Air Force One presidential aircraft come after Trump had told Reuters news agency on Thursday that he would be "all for" Iranian Kurdish militants to join the US-Israeli war against Iran.

"We're not looking to the Kurds going in," Trump said Saturday. "We're very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is."

Several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups operate out of camps and bases in northern Iraq.

Tehran has been targeting Kurdish groups in Iraq since the start of the conflict, which was sparked by the joint US-Israeli attack on February 28.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday posted a public slight directed at Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the British leader said the UK was seriously considering the deployment of two aircraft carriers to the Middle East to support Israeli and US forces attacking Iran.

In a social media post, Trump suggested that Starmer — who angered the president by not supporting the assault from the start — should not bother himself, writing, "That's OK Prime Minister Starmer, we don't need them anymore — but we will remember."

"We don't ⁠need people that ⁠join ​wars after we’ve already won!" Trump added.

The UK Defense Ministry on Saturday confirmed US forces started using UK bases for "specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region," after it had emerged that US forces sent more long-range bombers to Britain.

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about Iranian drones as Tehran uses them to target US and Israeli assets across the Middle East in retaliation for their assault on Iran.

"Ukraine has been fighting against (Iranian-made) 'Shaheds' for years, and everyone acknowledges that no other country in the world has such experience," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskyy, whose own existential four-year defensive battle against Russian invaders has shifted from the headlines with this new conflict, said he had spoken about drone defense with the leaders of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE shortly after Israel and the US launched their war against Iran.

Zelenskyy has also said Ukraine will assist the United States by providing specialists to counter Iranian Shaheds.

"We are ready to help," he said, "and expect that ​our people will also receive the necessary support."

Top Iranian security official Ali Larijani claimed in a post on social media that he had received reports of US soldiers taken prisoner by Iranian forces. 

"It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner," he wrote on X. "But the Americans claim that they have been killed in action. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something they can hide for too long."

US military denies claim soldiers taken prisoner by Iran 

Soon after Larijani's post, a spokesperson for US Central Command, however, said no US service members had been taken hostage or prisoner by Iran.

"The Iranian regime ​is doing ‌everything it can to peddle ​lies ⁠and deceive," US Navy ​Captain Tim Hawkins said. "This is yet ⁠another ​clear example."

Germany has temporarily evacuated staff from its embassy in Tehran, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Staff members were temporarily relocated from the country given the threat level, the ministry said, adding that the embassy remains accessible.

"The temporary relocation follows a reduction that was already carried out as a precautionary measure in mid-January," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Consular support had been significantly restricted due to a reduction in staff, and the visa office was temporarily closed, the ministry added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would carry out its war on Iran "with all our force."

"We have a systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime and achieve many other objectives," he said in a televised address.

Netanyahu's remarks came after an oil storage facility in Tehran went up in flames in what appeared to have been the first targeting of civilian industrial infrastructure in the war.

Among other targets, Israel also bombed a Tehran airport that it claimed was being used as a hub to shuttle guns and money to militants. 

Netanyahu said there would be "many surprises" in store for Iran in the coming days.

He also addressed the Iranian people, saying that Israel wants to help free them from "the yoke of tyranny" and that their "moment of truth" was near.

Since launching its attack alongside the US, Israel says it has dropped roughly 7,500 munitions in some 3,400 sorties.

More than 150 Iranian diplomats and their families left Lebanon on Saturday, Reuters news agency reported, citing a senior Lebanese security source. 

The diplomats were said to have been flown to Russia on a Russian aircraft. Another 20 Iranians are reported to have fled on Friday.

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — already engaged in conflict with Israel over Gaza — launched new attacks on Israel after the latest Iran conflict began, triggering massive Israeli retaliatory airstrikes across the country. 

On Tuesday, Israel warned Iranian diplomatic representatives in Lebanon to "leave immediately before they are targeted."

Israeli airstrikes hit buildings near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Friday. 

A source at the embassy told Reuters that Friday's attack had forced the decision to evacuate the diplomats.

Earlier this week, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked that any Iranian Revolutionary Guard members operating in the country be arrested and deported.

Lebanese authorities have not said if such individuals are in fact in the country.

An Iranian missile intercepted near Turkey marks a dangerous escalation in the US-Israel war with Tehran.

Ankara, a key NATO member hosting sensitive US and alliance sites, is treading carefully to avoid being dragged into the conflict.

Despite rivalry, Turkey and Iran remain interconnected through a common border, energy infrastructure and security concerns.

This vital and fragile relationship is one Ankara is reluctant to uproot.

In comments delivered while visiting hospitalized civilians injured by Iranian air attacks, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told Abu Dhabi TV, "We are now in a time of war."

Addressing Iran and its proxies, the president said: "The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh, we are not easy prey. The UAE is attractive, the UAE is beautiful, a role model… but don't be misled. I promise you that we will emerge stronger than we were."

The UAE hosts the US Air Force 380th Expeditionary Wing at its Al Dhafra Air Base. It has come under fire from Iran since the US and Israel launched their joint attack last weekend. 

UAE defense officials say they have intercepted 200 missiles, 1,100 drones and several cruise missiles since the conflict began. 

Until a few months ago, Donald Trump cast himself as a president of peace, boasting about how many conflicts around the world he had allegedly settled. He even founded a new international body, the Board of Peace, and suggested he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since the start of US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Trump looks anything but a peace-seeking president. Not least because Trump also used US military might to remove Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro in January. Last year, he launched air strikes on various countries, including Iran.

DW looks at the cost of war to Trump's presidency and how likely it is to influence his domestic approval.

New Iranian attacks were reported on Saturday evening by several Gulf states.

Bahrain's Ministry of the Interior has stated that a fire broke out in the capital, Manama, and several buildings were damaged due to "Iranian aggression."

A loud explosion was also heard in Dubai. The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Defense stated that air defense systems were responding to missiles and drones.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said that a missile targeting one of its air bases fell in an uninhabited area.

AFP journalists also reported explosions in Doha, the capital of Qatar.