DUBAI: Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Israel, American bases and countries around the region Thursday, while warning the US would “bitterly regret” torpedoing an Iranian warship.
Tehran's expanding retaliatory strikes and increasing shows of defiance came even as Israel and the US hammered Iran for a sixth day.
The war has escalated each day, affecting an additional 14 countries across the Middle East and beyond. On Thursday, Azerbaijan accused Iran of attacking it with drones - though Tehran denied that. A day earlier, the US said it sank an Iranian frigate in the waters off Sri Lanka.
All the while, the US and Israel have battered Iran with nationwide strikes, targeting their military capabilities leadership and nuclear programme. Israeli and American leaders have also suggested that toppling the government was a goal - and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed when they launched the war Saturday.
But the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, and the conflict increasingly appeared to be open-ended.
Iran's attacks have targeted their Arab neighbours, disrupted oil supplies and snarled global air travel.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US Navy of committing an “an atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean earlier in the week, killing at least 87 people.
“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set,” he said on social media.
An Iranian cleric later called on state television for the shedding of both Israeli and “Trump's blood.”
The statement from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli represented a rare call for violence by an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shiite Islam. There are dozens in Iran.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, while Gulf countries also reported coming under fire.
In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a drone was shot down near the Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts US forces, and shrapnel fell to the ground, authorities said. Six people were wounded.
Qatar evacuated residents near the US Embassy in Doha as a temporary precaution and later reported a missile attack on the city. Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its province bordering Jordan.
Israel appeared to be preparing to step up its attacks on Lebanon, where it is targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. The Israeli military also said a wave of strikes on Iran hit long-range ballistic missile launch sites and other targets.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of carrying out “a groundless act of terror and aggression” after a drone crashed Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, a region bordering Iran that is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school and two civilians were injured, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said.
Aliyev said the military had been instructed “to prepare and implement retaliatory measures.”
Iran's general staff of the armed forces denied it had launched drones toward Azerbaijan. The denial comes as Iran has repeatedly denied targeting oil infrastructure and other civilian targets during the war, despite its drone and missile fire hitting those sites.
A tanker apparently came under attack off the coast of Kuwait early Thursday, expanding the area where commercial shipping was in danger, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre run by the British military. It said there was an explosion but did not offer a cause.
Since the war began Saturday, ships have been attacked in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil is shipped. That has caused oil prices to soar - though they briefly came down Wednesday, before resuming their climb Thursday.
Israel issued an evacuation notice calling for all residents of Beirut's southern suburbs to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately,” apparently signalling plans for heavy bombardment of the area.
Since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah militant group, which struck Israel in the opening days of the war, Israel has hit sites in Beirut's suburbs and issued a blanket warning for residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate. But it had not issued such a warning for areas near the country's capital.
Among the 80 targets in Lebanon the Israel military said it hit over the past 24 hours were “several command centres” used by Hezbollah in Beirut. It showed video footage of a building being hit, but provided no further details.