Analysis: how should we interpret Pezeshkian’s statement?
Patrick Wintour
The announcement by Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian that Iran will no longer attack Gulf and neighbouring states if they are not attacking Iran appears on the surface a significant change in tactics, reflecting the overpowering diplomatic pressure Iran was under to change course, or risk uniting the whole of the Arab world against Iran. It would be an admission that Iran’s current military strategy is heading for diplomatic disaster.
But the precise implications of his announcement remains open to interpretation. An Iranian armed forces spokesperson seemed to qualify its meaning heavily by saying:
Strikes against the US and Israeli assets will continue. So far, we have targeted every base that was the origin of aggression against Iran and we remain committed to this matter. Countries that have not provided space and facilities to the United States and the Zionist regime have not been our target so far and will not be targeted in the future.
If the armed forces believe countries simply providing land, in terms of bases, remain legitimate targets, then effectively nothing has changed since there are US bases in almost every Gulf State. What Pezeshkian seemed to imply is that these countries will not be attacked if the US bases and airspace are not being used to attack Iran, an altogether different proposition.
Whether this reflects an internal disagreement, a reinterpretation of the decision taken by Pezeshkian and other members of Iran’s temporary executive council or simply a more hardline way of explaining the political leadership’s decision, time will tell. It is a test of where power lies in Iran in wartime.
But it was significant too that Pezeshkian chose to apologise and to argue Iran wanted to be on the right side of international law. Many lawyers claimed Iran’s attacks on US bases in the region could be justified as acts of self-defence, but the wider attacks on Gulf infrastructure and oil installations could not.
If Pezeshkian’s promise is translated into reality then Iran hopes the path to reunite the region and the focus can shift back to what it regards as the injustice of the US attacks in the midst of diplomacy.
The pressure to relent has been coming from all the Gulf states, but notably countries that have tried to be close to Iran, including Oman, Turkey and Qatar. Some of the phone conversations have been said to be seething.
Key events
Summary of the day so far
-
Donald Trump, speaking in Florida to leaders of Latin American countries at his golf resort in Miami, said US strikes on Iran have significantly damaged the country’s military capabilities, claiming American forces have destroyed 42 Iranian navy ships in three days.
-
Lebanon’s official National News Agency, citing figures from the country’s health ministry, reported that 41 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the eastern Bekaa valley. The Israeli military again warned people south of the Litani river in southern Lebanon to leave, saying the Israeli military is operating with “great force” in the area.
-
Trump wore a Trump-branded golf cap during the ritual dignified transfer of remains at Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday, as the commander-in-chief paid his respects to six army reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait in an Iranian strike.
-
In a post on Truth Social, the US president renewed his criticism of the UK’s lack of immediate support for US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and claimed Downing Street was now “giving serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the region. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember,” he wrote. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
-
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, on his way back to Florida from Dover air force base in Delaware, Trump was asked whether he expects to return there for more dignified transfer ceremonies for US troops killed in the war with Iran he launched last Saturday. “Oh yeah, I’m sure,” he replied. “I hate to do them, but it’s a part of war, isn’t it?”
-
When asked whether the US bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing more than 175 people, many of them children, Trump claimed that detailed forensic reporting that indicates the US was responsible is wrong. “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump said without offering any evidence for his claim.
-
Trump also didn’t rule out deploying US troops to secure Iran’s enriched uranium. When asked about whether he would deploy ground troops in Iran, the president said “possibly” but that there would “have to be a very good reason”. He was then asked whether he might send ground troops into Iran to secure its nuclear facilities. “We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we’d do it later on,” he replied.
-
Since the start of US and Israeli airstrikes, more than 6,000 civilian structures across Iran have sustained damage, according to a social media statement from Pir Hossein Kolivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent.
-
The president of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, gave his first public comments since Iran launched retaliatory strikes at the Gulf nation. “The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are no easy prey,” he said.
-
Iran’s foreign minister warned in a statement that Trump had misinterpreted the statement by Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in which he apologized to neighboring Gulf states and promised to stop strikes against them, unless an attack against Iran originated from those countries. He said Netanyahu ‘managed to dupe’ Trump ‘into fighting Israel’s wars’
The US Central Command denied on Saturday that any US service members had been taken hostage or captured by Iran.
In a post on X, Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said: “It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner. But the Americans claim that they have been killed in action. Despite their futile efforts, the truth is not something they can hide for too long.”
US Navy captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for the US Central Command, told Reuters: “The Iranian regime is doing everything it can to peddle lies and deceive. This is yet another clear example.”
Human Rights Watch said today in a statement that the deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children in southern Iran must be investigated as a war crime.
The strike occurred the morning of 28 February, amid a wave of hundreds of strikes launched across Iran by US and Israeli forces. While the Iranian government has attributed the attack to the US-Israeli coalition, neither nation has claimed responsibility.
“A prompt and thorough investigation is needed into this attack, including if those responsible should have known that a school was there and that it would be full of children and their teachers before midday,” said Sophia Jones, open source researcher with the Digital Investigations Lab at Human Rights Watch. “Those responsible for an unlawful attack should be held to account, including prosecutions of anyone responsible for war crimes.”
The Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School is located in Minab, Hormozgan province, situated on the interior boundary of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Naval Forces compound. Despite this proximity, Human Rights Watch noted that evidence reviewed indicates the school is walled off from the military site and maintains a separate street entrance.
Earlier today, Trump accused Iran of being behind the deadly school explosion despite evidence suggesting it was likely a US airstrike.
When asked about earlier reports of the US attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island, Trump gave an evasive answer, immediately saying that Iran “are among the most evil people ever on Earth”.
He added: “I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say, if they’re complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact that they shouldn’t be chopping babies’ heads off.”
US special envoy Steve Witkoff also said the Tehran leadership did not seem “very amenable” during negotiations before the US launched strikes.
“They told me and Jared, we’re not going to give you diplomatically what you couldn’t take militarily,” said Witkoff, referring to fellow negotiator and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. “So you know, I think they’re going to need a change of attitude.”
Trump doesn’t rule out deploying US troops to secure Iran’s enriched uranium
Asked by a reporter on Air Force One about whether he would deploy ground troops in Iran, Donald Trump said “possibly” but that there would “have to be very good reason”.
The president was then asked whether he might send ground troops into Iran to secure its nuclear facilities. “We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we’d do it later on,” Trump replied.
Without evidence, Trump claims that bombing of Iranian girls’ elementary school ‘was done by Iran’
Robert Mackey
Asked on Air Force One whether the United States bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing more than 175 people, many of them children, Donald Trump claimed that detailed forensic reporting that indicates the US was responsible is wrong.
“No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” the president said without offering any evidence for his claim.
“Is that true, Mr Hegseth?” the same reporter then asked the defense secretary, who was standing behind the president.
As the president turned to look at him, the defense secretary did not agree.
“We’re certainly investigating,” Hegseth said. “But the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
“We think it was done by Iran,” Trump added, “because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”
The president’s claim is not supported by logic, since the school was adjacent to an Iranian military base the US targeted from the air, and is contradicted by evidence gathered in independent investigations by journalists at the New York Times, CNN and the Associated Press.
Trump says he expects more US troops to die in Iran war
Robert Mackey
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, on his way back to Florida from Dover air force base in Delaware, Donald Trump was asked whether he expects to return there for more dignified transfer ceremonies for US troops killed in the war with Iran he launched last Saturday.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure,” the president replied. “I hate to do them, but it’s a part of war, isn’t it?”
Trump then asked the reporter who asked him about the prospect of more American lives being lost: “Who are you with?”
When the reporter replied: “the Washington Post”, Trump asked him whether he would agree that death is part of war.
“It’s part of war,” the president repeated, “it’s a sad part of war, it’s the bad part of war.”
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) said it is actively managing offshore output levels to address storage requirements amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, while its onshore operations are continuing, according to Reuters.
“This approach preserves operational flexibility and will enable the company to resume normal operations without prolonged delay,” Adnoc said in a statement.
The war has blocked shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway responsible for roughly 20% of global oil and LNG supply. Analysts have predicted the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will soon have to cut output as their oil storage fills up.
Adnoc said its operations are continuing, and that it is using export capacity that bypasses the strait as well as international storage facilities to ensure supply continuity to global markets.
Saudi state oil giant Aramco is temporarily diverting some crude shipments to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to ensure supply continuity for customers unable to access the Gulf, Saudi state media said on Saturday. Reuters reported on Friday that its shipments from the Red Sea are increasing but the volumes are far from enough to offset the drop from the crisis-hit strait.
Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain was giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East but that he does not need them because “we’ve already won”.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Trump wears golf cap during transfer of remains of Iran war dead
Robert Mackey
Donald Trump wore a Trump-branded golf cap during the ritual dignified transfer of remains at Dover air force base in Delaware on Saturday, as the commander-in-chief paid his respects to six army reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait in an Iranian strike.
The white cap, with gold USA letters on the front, appeared to be the same one the president wore last Saturday when he announced the start of the war in a video message recorded from his Florida beach club, Mar-a-Lago. The cap, which is embroidered with the numbers 45 and 47 on the side, in honor of Trump’s terms in office, is available from the Trump Store for $55.
C-Span video and photographs of the event show that Trump saluted as the remains of the six army reserve soldiers were transferred in flag-draped cases without removing his cap.
The president was joined at the ceremony by the first lady, Melania Trump, and officials including the vice-president, JD Vance; the second lady, Usha Vance; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine; the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles; and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy who led the failed talks with Iran over its nuclear program before the joint US-Israeli attack.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to strike Iran “with all our might” on Saturday.
In a recorded statement, the Israeli prime minister claimed Israel and the US had gained “almost complete control” over the skies of Iran and that they still had “many more targets and surprises prepared”.
“We will destabilize the regime and enable change,” he said. Israel had announced a new wave of strikes on Tehran shortly before this statement.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of the supreme national security council of Iran, said that the US is “stuck in the quagmire of its own miscalculations” because of Donald Trump, whom he says has already failed to reach his goals.
“I think the most important problem the Americans have is that they do not understand the context of west Asia, especially Iran,” said Larijani in a pre-recorded interview on state TV. “Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela – they would strike, take control and it would be over – but now they are trapped.”
Larijani said countries across the region are aware that the US cannot secure their security anymore following days of strikes. He added that Tehran has no issue with the other regional countries.
Since the start of US and Israeli airstrikes, more than 6,000 civilian structures across Iran have sustained damage, according to a social media statement from Pir Hossein Kolivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent.
The destruction spans several sectors of civilian infrastructure, including:
-
5,535 residential units
-
1,041 commercial buildings
-
65 schools
-
14 medical centers
-
13 Red Crescent facilities
The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said he had spoken to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who said a scheme for Iranian Kurdish forces based in northern Iraq to attack Iran was “not their intention”.
Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Fidan said Rubio’s comments came in a recent phone call. Instead, the minister accused Israel of using Kurdish groups as “a proxy” in the region.
Strategies that “aim to create ethnic rivalry or an ethnic conflict in Iran would be something we oppose because it would be the most dangerous scenario”, Fidan said. He said that Turkey had been talking to Kurdish leaders to prevent such a “historic mistake”.
He added that Turkey had been involved in “intense diplomatic traffic” to produce a “formula to end this war”.