Iran's president says remarks on neighbours 'misinterpreted by the enemy'

Trump justifies the attack by saying Iran poses a threat to the United States, without providing evidence

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his remarks were "misinterpreted by the enemy that seeks to sow division with neighbours", state TV reported on Sunday, after they were viewed as a decision to suspend attacks on Gulf countries while strikes did not stop.

"It has repeatedly been said we are brothers and must have good relations with neighbours. However, we are forced to retaliate to attacks but this does not mean we have a dispute with a (neighbouring) country or want to upset their people," Pezeshkian said.

Israel said it had initiated fresh strikes across Iran today, and a huge fire engulfed a government office block in Kuwait hit by drones, as a war that has brought chaos to the Middle East and roiled global oil markets entered its second week.

Trump has justified the attack by saying Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, without providing evidence, and was getting too close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.

The US and Israel have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, Axios reported, citing four people with knowledge of the discussions. The White House did not immediately comment on the report.

Iran's president apologised to neighbouring states for its attacks on US facilities in those countries, in an attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, but stirred criticism from hardliners at home.

Despite the Iranian president's apology on Saturday, Iranian attack drones have struck targets in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, officials in both countries said early Sunday.

In a post on X, the Saudi Defence Ministry said at least 15 drones had been intercepted and destroyed within the kingdom's airspace. It also said the drones had tried to attack the diplomatic quarter in the capital, Riyadh.

المتحدث الرسمي لـ #وزارة_الدفاع: إحباط محاولات استهداف بثلاث مسيّرات بعد إسقاطها في مدينة الرياض. pic.twitter.com/5cOHatBLIF

— وزارة الدفاع (@modgovksa) March 8, 2026

In Kuwait, the Defence Ministry said fuel tanks at the country's international airport had been targeted by Iranian attack drones early on Sunday.

"Kuwaiti Air Defences are currently responding to hostile missile and drone threats," the ministry said on X. It added that "explosions that may be heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting hostile targets."

Kuwait Ministry of Defense says they "are still dealing with a wave of hostile drones that have penetrated the country's airspace...air defense systems and warplanes are still engaging hostile aerial targets" https://t.co/ZQYwz7mp3Q pic.twitter.com/x7UCZDG17Z

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) March 8, 2026

Kuwait said the drone attack had directly targeted "vital infrastructure."

The army later said it had intercepted at least three ballistic missiles that had entered Kuwait's airspace.

In a separate statement, Kuwait said civilian facilities had been damaged by fragments and debris from intercepted drones.

Footage on social media showed a skyscraper in Kuwait City engulfed in flames.

Firefighters have brought the fire at the fuel storage tanks of Kuwait International Airport under control. Crews are still working to contain another fire at the headquarters of the Public Institution for Social Security.

Furthermore, U.S. forces also recorded the moment an… pic.twitter.com/DVNnuvYonq

— Basha باشا (@BashaReport) March 8, 2026

Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reported Iranian drone attacks in their countries on Saturday and early Sunday with varying degrees of damage but no reported deaths. Iran's Revolutionary Guards also targeted US forces at a base in Bahrain, Iranian state media said.

Iran's president apologised to neighbouring states for its attacks on US facilities in those countries, in an attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, but stirred criticism from hardliners at home.

"I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran's actions," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, urging them not to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

He dismissed Trump's demand for the Islamic Republic's unconditional surrender as "a dream," but said its temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.

Read: No way home

Pezeshkian's comments caused a political stir in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate that Iran's military would respond firmly to attacks from US bases. Ali Larijani, Iran's secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on state television there was no rift among Iranian officials over its handling of the war.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US President Donald Trump said he is not interested in negotiating with Iran and raised the possibility that the Iran war would only end once Tehran no longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said the air campaign could make negotiations a moot point if all potential leaders of Iran are killed and the Iranian military is destroyed.

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

Israel and Iran traded numerous attacks on Saturday as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered a second week.

In the United States, the White House halted, for now, a federal security bulletin that would have warned of ​a heightened threat to the US in light of the Iran conflict, a Trump administration official told Reuters. But a recent US intelligence assessment had warned that Iran ​and its proxies "probably" pose a threat of targeted attacks on the United States.

In Oslo, the US embassy was hit by an explosion early on Sunday, causing minor damage but no injuries, Norwegian police said. Smoke was seen rising from the area around the embassy compound, eyewitnesses told Norwegian daily Verdens Gang. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast or who was involved.

Huge explosions were heard in parts of Tehran, state media reported, while Israel said it had struck Iranian missile sites and command centres.

Read More: Iranian clerics seek swift naming of new supreme leader

The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.

US forces were likely responsible for an apparent ​strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children, US officials have told Reuters. But Trump, without citing evidence, told reporters on Saturday that Iran was responsible.

"We think it was done by Iran because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran," said Trump. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing behind Trump aboard Air Force One, said the matter was still under investigation.

Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel. At least six US service members have been killed. Their remains arrived on Saturday at an Air Force base in Delaware.

In Iran, local news agencies, citing an Iranian Oil Ministry source, said its fuel depots were hit by strikes in three areas, including Karaj, west of Tehran.

BREAKING: 🇮🇷 Fires continue to burn at the Shahran oil depot in Tehran after overnight US-Israeli strikes targeted fuel storage facilities. #Iran #Tehran #BreakingNews #IranIsraelWar #USIran #MiddleEast #OilDepot #Airstrikes #Geopolitics pic.twitter.com/Anvwy9ZP9w

— WorldNewsRank (@WNewsRankX) March 8, 2026

Tehran has responded to the US-Israeli war on Iran by hitting Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military installations. Israel has launched fresh attacks in Lebanon after the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah fired across the border.

With the conflict spreading, Israel warned Lebanon of a "very heavy price" if it did not rein in Iran-allied Hezbollah fighters, as it pounded the group's strongholds with airstrikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

On Saturday morning, more buildings in Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs had been reduced to rubble, dust and tangled wires, Reuters video showed.

The death toll from Israel's attacks on Lebanon since Monday rose to around 300, after at least four people were killed when an Israeli strike hit an apartment in the Ramada hotel building in central Beirut, Lebanon's health ministry said. It was the first strike to hit the heart of the capital since Israel-Hezbollah hostilities resumed last week.

Iran's apparent strategy of maximum chaos has driven up the costs of the conflict by raising energy prices and hurting global business and logistics links.

Kuwait's national oil company began cutting output on Saturday, adding to earlier oil and gas cuts from Iraq and Qatar.

The war has roiled global markets, and oil prices have hit multi-year highs with the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut.

Hardline clerics have called for the swift selection of a new supreme leader, Iranian media reported on Saturday, with meetings occurring as soon as Sunday.