‘Reprehensible’: New wave of Iranian missiles, drones target Gulf nations

Gulf States have lambasted Iran for its continued strikes on their territories, with Qatar urging all sides to de-escalate.Smoke rises following a strike on the Bapco Oil Refinery, amid the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, on Sitra Island Bahrain, on March 9, 2026 [Reuters]Published On 9 Mar 2026Iranian missiles and drones continue to target Gulf countries, with Bahrain’s state oil company declaring force majeure on Monday for its shipments after its refinery caught fire in an Iranian attack.Gulf airspace has been shut and oil production and supply disrupted after Iran targeted US assets located in Gulf countries in retaliation for attacks by the United States and Israel on the country since February 28.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How targeting of desalination plants could disrupt water supply in the Gulflist 2 of 3‘Gulf countries may question US capability to protect them’list 3 of 3Is Israel reshaping Lebanon, trying to separate Hezbollah from its people?end of listBahrain’s state-owned energy company Bapco declared force majeure after waves of Iranian strikes targeted its energy installations.Bapco “hereby serves notice of force majeure on its group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex”, a company statement said on Monday.Saudi Arabia intercepted four drones headed for Shaybah oilfield, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait reported missile attacks.On Sunday, at least two people were killed and 12 injured after a projectile fell in a residential area in Saudi Arabia’s al-Kharj governorate.Smoke rises after an explosion in the industrial zone, caused by debris after interception of a drone by air defence, according to Fujairah’s media office on March 5, 2026 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. [File: Christophe Pike/Getty Images]Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Doha, said alerts were issued at about 3:15am local time (00:15 GMT).“A few minutes after that, we started to hear the sound of explosions that were due to interceptor missiles that were countering those missiles coming in from Iran. We heard the sounds of about 12 to 13 explosions,” he said.“In Bahrain, at least 32 citizens, including children, were injured in an Iranian drone attack on Sitra, an area south of the capital, Manama, according to state media. In the United Arab Emirates, it’s been another busy night and morning for them countering attacks, with the Ministry of Defence saying air defences were responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.“We also know that there was a fire in the Fujairah oil industry zone that was the result of debris falling from an intercepted drone,” Jamjoom said.Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia lambasted Iran, calling its attacks targeting the kingdom and the Gulf neighbours “reprehensible”.Saudi Arabia “renews the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s categorical condemnation of the reprehensible Iranian aggressions against the Kingdom, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, a number of Arab and Islamic countries, and friendly nations, which cannot be accepted or justified under any circumstances”, the statement posted on the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official X account read.Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani urged all sides to de-escalate in an interview with Sky News.“We will continue talking to the Iranians, we will continue trying to seek de-escalation,” the prime minister said.He described the attacks on Qatar as a “big sense of betrayal” by the Iranian leadership.“Just maybe an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries were attacked right away,” Sheikh Mohammed said, adding the assault took place despite statements from several countries in the region that they were not going to take part in any war against Iran, and despite concerted efforts to find a diplomatic solution.New supreme leaderIsrael launched a new wave of strikes on Monday, targeting infrastructure in central Iran after Mojtaba Khamenei was named the successor to his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in joint US-Israeli strikes. The country’s top political figures have pledged allegiance to the new supreme leader.At least 1,255 people have been killed and thousands injured in Israeli and US attacks across Iran. On Sunday, Israel bombed multiple oil facilities in Iran for the first time in the conflict.US President Donald Trump, who had previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight”, insisted on Sunday that he should have had a say in appointing a new leader.Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz warned last week that the new supreme leader would become “a target”, while the military pledged to go after any successor.As Iran retaliates against its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbours, the benchmark price for a barrel of crude soared beyond $100 for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago.Trump dismissed the price spike, a politically sensitive issue in the US, as a “small price to pay” for removing the alleged threat of Iran’s nuclear programme.Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stated that while Iran continues to enrich uranium to high levels, there is currently no evidence or indication of a systematic, ongoing programme to produce a nuclear weapon.In a sign that the US does not expect a quick end to the war, the Department of State ordered nonemergency staff to leave Saudi Arabia, days after a drone hit the US embassy.As questions swirl over the length of the war, Trump told The Times of Israel that any decision on when to end hostilities will be a joint one with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.“I think it’s mutual … a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” Trump said, in response to a question on whether he alone will decide.The multifront war intensified in Lebanon on Monday, with Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah saying it was engaging Israeli forces who landed in eastern Lebanon on 15 helicopters across the Syrian border.Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Ali Khamenei.A smoke cloud erupts from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon on March 9, 2026. [File: Ibrahim Amro/AFP]Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency earlier reported “fierce clashes” around the town of Nabi Chit, where an Israeli operation over the weekend killed 41 people.Israel had struck a hotel in central Beirut on Sunday, targeting five commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ international Quds Force, the patron of Hezbollah, as they met in a Beirut hotel.According to the latest estimates, at least 390 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1,000 injured since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.In Israel, Iranian missile attacks have killed at least 10 people, with nearly 2,000 others injured.