Trump says he blames deadly school strike on Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Iran war exploded further late Saturday as pillars of flame rose above an oil storage facility in Tehran and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the week-old conflict.

Iranian state media confirmed the strike as Associated Press video showed the horizon glowing against the night sky. Israel’s military confirmed new strikes that shook neighborhoods in Tehran’s east and south but did not immediately comment on targets.

It appeared to be the first time a civil industrial facility has been targeted in the war. State media blamed “an attack from the U.S. and the Zionist regime” at the facility that supplies the capital and neighboring provinces in the north.

Earlier in the day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for attacks on “neighboring countries,” even as its missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states and hard-liners asserted that Tehran’s war strategy wouldn’t budge.

A rift between more pragmatic politicians looking to de-escalate the war and others committed to battling the United States and Israel could complicate any diplomatic efforts. Conflicting statements involved two of the three members of the leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war’s opening airstrikes.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that Iran would be “hit very hard” and more “areas and groups of people” would become targets, without elaborating. Already, the conflict has rattled global markets and left Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.

When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for the Feb. 28 blast that killed more than 165 people, most of them children, at a school in Iran, Trump responded, without providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.”

Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions.

Satellite images, expert analysis, a U.S. official, and public information released by the U.S. and Israeli militaries, however, have suggested that the explosion was likely caused by U.S. airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with the regime’s Revolutionary Guard.

The strike, which had the highest reported civilian death toll since the war began, has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights monitors.

Along with his apology, Pezeshkian dismissed Trump’s call for Tehran to surrender unconditionally, saying: “That’s a dream that they should take to their grave.”

Pezeshkian’s message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and appears to be picking its own targets.

Pezeshkian’s statement said Iran’s leadership council had been in touch with the armed forces over the attacks.

“From now on, they should not attack neighboring countries or fire missiles at them, unless we are attacked by those countries. I think we should solve this through diplomacy,” he said.

The U.S. strikes haven’t been coming from the Gulf Arab governments under attack, but from U.S. bases and vessels in the region.

But hard-line judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another member of the three-man leadership council, suggested that war strategy will not change.

“The geography of some countries in the region — both overtly and covertly — is in the hands of the enemy, and those points are used against our country in acts of aggression. Intense attacks on these targets will continue,” he posted on X.

“As long as the presence of U.S. bases in the region continue, the countries will not enjoy peace,” Iran’s Parliament speaker and a former Revolutionary Guard general, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on X. He called defense policies in line with the late supreme leader’s guidance.

Iran’s U.N. mission later suggested, without offering evidence, that strikes on nonmilitary sites “may have resulted from interception by U.S. electronic defense systems.”

Trump said he has ruled out having Kurds join the war, even though Kurdish fighters in the region are willing to assist in efforts to topple the Iranian government.

“The war is complicated enough without having — getting the Kurds involved,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Days ago, Kurdish officials told the AP that Kurdish-Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq were preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran and that the U.S. had asked Iraqi Kurds to support them.

Earlier, AP video showed explosions over western Tehran as Israel said it struck a Tehran airport it said was used to transfer weapons and cash to militant groups.

“Tehran is under severe bombardment” and even people far from military and government targets are living in fear, said a university student in western Tehran, speaking on condition of anonymity for security concerns.

The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran, targeting its military capabilities, leadership, and nuclear program. The war’s stated goals and timelines have repeatedly shifted as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.

The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 290 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.

In Lebanon, Israel carried out a commando raid to search for clues about a navigator who went missing 40 years ago that left dozens of people dead and dozens more wounded Saturday.

Incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters again across Israel. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Three Iraqi security officials said a missile landed on the helicopter landing pad in the U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. An embassy spokesperson declined to comment. There were no reports of casualties.

It was the first reported strike to land in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone since the Iran war began. Iran and allied Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks on U.S. military bases and other facilities in Iraq since then.

Iraq’s caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called the embassy attack a “terrorist act” carried out by “rogue groups.”

U.S. allies in the Gulf have said the Trump administration did not give them adequate time to prepare for the war.

On Saturday, hours after Pezeshkian’s message, the United Arab Emirates said debris from an aerial interception fell onto a vehicle and killed an “Asian driver.” Four people have now been killed in the UAE since the war began. Authorities have said all were foreign nationals.

Sirens sounded early Saturday in Bahrain as Iran targeted the island kingdom. Saudi Arabia said it destroyed drones headed toward its vast Shaybah oil field and shot down a ballistic missile launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts U.S. forces.

In Dubai, several blasts were heard Saturday morning and the government said it had activated air defenses. Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai International Airport were ushered into train tunnels. Long-haul carrier Emirates briefly said all flights to and from Dubai were suspended.