Signs of division emerged in Iran’s leadership Saturday as U.S. and Israeli strikes continued battering targets throughout the country. Tehran sent mixed signals on whether it would keep attacking Washington’s Arab allies entering the war’s second week.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian began the day offering an apology “on behalf of Iran to the neighboring countries affected,” promising to halt the attacks that have impacted nearly every nation in the Middle East. However, strikes continued within hours, hitting Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Pezeshkian quickly issued a statement walking back his remarks.
President Trump vowed on social media to “hit Iran very hard” on Saturday, shortly before flying to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the dignified transfer of six service members killed in the war. Speaking at a summit of Latin American leaders in Miami before his trip, the president described the fallen service members as heroes “coming home in a different manner than they thought they’d be coming home.” He called it “a very sad situation” and pledged to keep American war deaths “to a minimum.”
Meanwhile, Israel launched its own wave of fresh attacks against Iran while taking incoming fire from Hezbollah, Iran’s allied force in Lebanon, which set off sirens in Tel Aviv. Reports of a fire at a major oil refinery outside Tehran sparked fears that the conflict was escalating, marking the first attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure, if confirmed.
The weekend’s burst of activity underscored that Trump’s unexpected war with Iran, launched alongside Israel just a week ago, continues at full force with no sign of slowing. Missile and drone strikes by Iran against Arab nations, targeting U.S. military assets as well as civilian targets including hotels and airports, are part of an effort by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to pressure regional governments. Iran aims for these governments to in turn press Trump to end the U.S. air campaign.
These strikes have jolted markets worldwide and sent oil prices soaring. While attacks have decreased substantially over the week—with U.S. Central Command recording a 90% decrease in ballistic missile launches and an 83% drop in drone attacks as of Friday— Iranian strikes are still penetrating regional air defenses. One drone hit the world’s busiest airport, in Dubai, on Saturday, dashing hopes that flights could resume from the regional hub.
Hours after Pezeshkian’s apology, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement vowing to continue strikes on territories that host U.S. offensive forces. Iran’s Defense Ministry said its strategic stockpile of munitions was sufficient to sustain a protracted campaign. Additionally, a Revolutionary Guard spokesperson addressed Trump directly, calling him “the corrupted island man,” referencing Trump’s former friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender who allegedly trafficked girls to his private island.
“The ground and the map of the war is in our hands,” the Revolutionary Guard official said. “This will continue.”
In his videotaped remarks, Pezeshkian also rejected Trump’s call for Tehran’s “unconditional surrender.” Trump later stated he would be satisfied once Iran is no longer capable of fighting back. “The idea of Iran surrendering unconditionally is a dream they will take to their graves,” Pezeshkian declared.
A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts—a council of 88 clerics responsible for naming the country’s supreme leader—was quoted in local state media vowing to select a new ayatollah within the next day. This comes more than a week after U.S. and Israeli forces assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening salvo of the war.
Trump has said he expects to have a say in that decision, preemptively rejecting the late supreme leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is seen as the most likely successor. Mojtaba Khamenei is regarded as even more ideological than his father, with deep ties throughout Iran’s security apparatus and a potential vendetta against Trump following U.S. forces killing much of his family.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and former top advisor to the late Khamenei, spoke publicly for the first time since the ayatollah’s killing, calling the assassination unprecedented.
“The price for this is not small,” Larijani said. “They shouldn’t think we’ll let America quickly sweep this under the rug and say, ‘We hit, now let’s move on.’ Things will only resolve when they understand they no longer have the right to violate Iran, and when they compensate the Iranian people for their losses.”
More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, according to Iranian officials.
“He killed and martyred our leader,” Larijani added. “We’re not letting it go.”
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-03-07/trump-vows-to-escalate-war-as-divisions-in-iran-emerge
