Politics
Iran warns neighbours it could strike US bases if Washington intervenes in protests
- Diplomats say personnel advised to leave US air base in Qatar.
- Tehran calls US warnings “pretext for military intervention”.
- Iran chief justice fast trials against those involved in violence.
Tehran has warned neighbouring countries hosting US troops that it would retaliate against American bases if Washington carries out threats to intervene in protests in Iran, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday.
Three diplomats said some personnel had been advised to leave the main US air base in the region, although there were no immediate signs of a large-scale evacuation of troops as took place in the hours before an Iranian missile attack last year.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where a rights group claims hundreds have been killed in recent days in a crackdown on the protest movements.
According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene, although the scope and timing of this action remain unclear, an Israeli official said.
The three diplomats told Reuters that some personnel had been advised to leave the US military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening.
One of the diplomats described the move as a “posture change” rather than an “ordered evacuation”. There was no sign of a large-scale movement of troops off the base to a nearby soccer stadium and shopping mall, as took place last year in the hours before Iran targeted the base with missiles in retaliation for US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear targets.
The US embassy in Doha had no immediate comment and Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump vows ‘very strong action’
Trump has been openly threatening to intervene in Iran for days, though without giving specifics.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed “very strong action” if Iran executes protesters. “If they hang them, you’re going to see some things,” he said. He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring “help is on the way”.
The Iranian official, a senior figure speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had asked US allies in the region to “prevent Washington from attacking Iran”.
“Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkiye, that US bases in those countries will be attacked” if the US targets Iran, the official said.
The official added that direct contacts between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had been suspended, reflecting mounting tensions.
A second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of government or US intervention in Iran. Israel fought a 12-day war against Tehran last year, which the United States joined at the end.
The United States has forces across the region, including the forward headquarters of its Central Command at Al Udeid in Qatar and the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
Iran holds contacts with Turkiye, UAE, Qatar
Iranian state media reported that the head of Iran’s top security body, Ali Larijani, had spoken to the foreign minister of Qatar, and Araqchi had spoken to his Emirati and Turkish counterparts.
Araqchi told UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed that “calm has prevailed” and Iranians were determined to defend their sovereignty and security from any foreign interference, state media reported.
Meanwhile, the flow of information from inside Iran has been hampered by an internet blackout, with internet monitor Netblocks saying on Wednesday that the blackout had lasted 132 hours.
“Metrics show #Iran remains offline as the country wakes to another day of digital darkness,” it said in a post on X.
Some information has trickled out of Iran however. New videos on social media, with locations verified by AFP, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.
Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of fomenting the unrest, carried out by people it calls terrorists.
Iran’s chief justice urges swift actions
Visiting a Tehran prison where arrested protesters are being held, Iran’s chief justice said speed in judging and penalising those involved in violence was critical to ensuring such events do not happen again.
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said that “if a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly”, in comments broadcast by state television.
Iranian news agencies also quoted him as saying the trials should be held in public and said he had spent five hours in a prison in Tehran to examine the cases.
State TV said that a funeral procession would take place on Wednesday in Tehran for more than 100 civilians and security personnel killed in the unrest.
Pro-government rallies were held in Iran on Monday, a show of loyalist support for the current Iranian rulers. So far, there have been no signs of fracture in the security forces that have quelled other bouts of protest over the years.
While Iranian authorities have weathered previous protests, the latest unrest is taking place with Tehran still recovering from last year’s war against Israel.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that military action was among the options he was weighing to “punish Iran”.
“The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain,” said Trump upon returning to the Washington area from Detroit, adding he would know more after receiving a report on Tuesday evening.
Trump on Monday announced 25% import tariffs on products from any country doing business with Iran — a major oil exporter. The US State Department on Tuesday urged American citizens to leave Iran now.
Tehran called the American warnings a “pretext for military intervention”.
Iran’s UN mission posted a statement on X, vowing that Washington’s “playbook” would “fail again”.
“US fantasies and policy toward Iran are rooted in regime change, with sanctions, threats, engineered unrest, and chaos serving as the modus operandi to manufacture a pretext for military intervention,” the post said.
A video released by White House officials has gone viral showing US President Donald Trump surrounded by a group of pastors praying over him in the Oval Office, as US and Israeli military campaign against Iran enter its seventh day.
Critics warn that the offensive risks worsening humanitarian conditions and destabilising an already tense region.
The video, shared by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, shows a prayer circle of prominent religious leaders from across the US. Trump sits behind his desk with eyes closed as Pastor Tom Mullins leads the ceremony.
Pastor Mullins said: “We are honoured to come before Your presence today, lifting up the arms of our president. We pray for Your continued blessing and favour to rest upon him. We pray for wisdom from heaven to flood his heart and mind and for Your guidance during these challenging times.”
He also prayed for the protection of US troops and for the president to lead the nation with strength and grace.
The strikes have escalated tensions across the Middle East, with analysts cautioning that continuous retaliation could prolong the cycle of conflict.
The US Department of Defence said Operation Epic Fury targets Iran’s missiles, production facilities, and naval assets.
After the death of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint US‑Israeli airstrike on Tehran, Iran has launched a series of retaliatory missile and drone attacks on Israel, Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, claiming to target American facilities in response.
The US confirmed that six soldiers were killed when a drone struck a facility in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. Critics say the human and infrastructural toll underlines the urgent need for diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation.
- Qatar produces LNG about 20% of global supply.
- If war continue, it will impact world’s GPD: minister.
- Minister forecasts crude prices may hit $150 per barrel.
Qatar expects all Gulf energy producers to shut down exports within weeks if the Iran conflict continues and drives oil to $150 a barrel, the country’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.
Qatar halted its production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Monday, as Iran continued to strike Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and US attacks.
The country’s LNG production is equivalent to about 20% of global supply and plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand for the fuel.
“Everybody that has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days that this continues. All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure,” Kaabi told the FT.
“If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,” he said.
“Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply,” Kaabi said.
Kaabi said even if the war ended immediately it would take Qatar “weeks to months” to return to a normal cycle of deliveries.
Analysts and economists have highlighted the potential impact of the war on economies globally.
Kaabi, who is also the CEO of Qatar Energy, one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas producers, told FT that the company’s North Field expansion project would delay first production.
“It will delay all our expansion plans for sure,” Kaabi said. “If we come back in a week, perhaps the effect is minimal, if it’s a month or two, it is different.”
The project was scheduled to begin production in mid-2026.
He forecast that crude prices could hit $150 a barrel O/R in two to three weeks if ships and tankers were unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which is the world’s most vital oil export route, connecting the biggest Gulf oil producers with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
Kaabi also expects gas prices to rise to $40 per million British thermal units.
GENEVA: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said that killings such as the reported death of Ali Khamenei raise serious concerns under international human rights law.
Speaking to reporters, Turk said that from a human rights perspective, any form of killing is unacceptable.
“From a human rights perspective, any killing of anyone is not in the interest of international human rights law,” he said.
Strike on Girls’ School Raises Concern
Turk also addressed reports of a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, a city in southern Iran, during the first day of US and Israeli attacks.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, claimed that the attack killed around 150 students, although the figure has not been independently verified.
The UN rights chief stressed that schools are civilian institutions and should never be targeted during armed conflicts.
Call for Independent Investigation
Turk called for an impartial investigation into the incident to determine the circumstances surrounding the strike, including the type of weapon used and the timing of the attack.
He said responsibility now lies with those who carried out the strikes to ensure a transparent inquiry.
Meanwhile, US officials told media that military investigators are examining the possibility that American forces were responsible, though the investigation has not yet reached a final conclusion.
The incident has intensified international concern about civilian casualties and humanitarian law violations as the conflict in the region continues to escalate.
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