\n<\/p>\n
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — <\/span>Intense Iranian fire targeted the Gulf Arab states early Saturday as Israel and the United States kept up their airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n There was no foreseeable end to the fighting. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration approved a new $151 million arms sale to Israel after Trump said he would not negotiate with Iran without its \u201cunconditional surrender\u201d and U.S. officials warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign<\/a> they said would be the most intense yet in the weeklong conflict. <\/p>\n Iran’s U.N. ambassador said the country would \u201ctake all necessary measures\u201d to defend itself.<\/p>\n Associated Press video showed explosions flashing and smoke rising over western Tehran as Israel said it had begun a broad wave of strikes. Also early Saturday, loud booms sounded in Jerusalem and incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters across Israel. <\/p>\n There were no immediate reports of casualties by Israel\u2019s emergency services.<\/p>\n In a sign of the widening nature of the conflict, sirens sounded early Saturday in Bahrain<\/a> as Iranian attacks targeted the island kingdom. And Saudi Arabia<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted<\/a>, as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran\u2019s government or elevate new leadership from within<\/a>.<\/p>\n Qatar\u2019s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, warned in an interview with the Financial Times that the war could \u201cbring down the economies of the world,\u201d predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $150 a barrel.<\/p>\n The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose above $90 on Friday for the first time in more than two years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.<\/p>\n The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the U.S. intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran on what to do with the information.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war.<\/p>\n In a social media post Friday, Trump said \u201cThere will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” After a surrender, \u201cand the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s),\u201d he wrote, the U.S. and its allies will help rebuild Iran, making it \u201ceconomically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n Those comments were likely to raise further questions about the endgame of the war. The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops<\/a> have been killed.<\/p>\n Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that \u201csome countries\u201d had begun mediation efforts, without elaborating.<\/p>\n Iranian state television reported Friday that a leadership council had started discussing how to convene the country\u2019s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader<\/a>. <\/p>\n U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a television interview on Friday that the \u201cbiggest bombing campaign\u201d of the war was still to come. <\/p>\n Israel has said that over the past week it has heavily bombed an extensive underground bunker that Iranian leaders had planned to use during the hostilities.<\/p>\n New information surfaced suggesting that a deadly Feb. 28 explosion at a school in the Iranian city of Minab, some 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) southeast of Tehran, was likely caused by U.S. airstrikes. The information included satellite images, expert analysis, a U.S. official and public information released by U.S. and Israeli military forces.<\/p>\n Iranian state media has said more than 165 people were killed in the blast, most of them of children.<\/p>\n