By JON GAMBRELL, MICHELLE L. PRICE and JULIE WATSON, Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Three weeks into an escalating war in the Middle East, Iran threatened Friday to expand its retaliatory attacks to include recreational and tourist sites worldwide, as the U.S. announced it was sending more warships to the region.
Hours later, President Donald Trump said on social media that his administration in fact was considering “winding down” military operations in the region. His post came after another plunged the U.S. stock market.
The mixed messages came as the war has shown no signs of abating.
Iran launched more attacks on Israel and , and the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar. Iranians were also celebrating the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally , as Israeli airstrikes landed in Tehran.
With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the punishing U.S. and Israeli strikes, which began Feb. 28 — or even who . But Iran’s attacks are still choking off oil supplies and far beyond the Middle East.
Meanwhile U.S. officials announced that the Trump administration will lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded at sea under a one-month license as the White House tries to bring down soaring oil prices. The pause applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end April 19.
The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its . There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end to the war in sight.
Trump says US near completion of its goals
In his social media post, the president said, “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East.”
That seemed at odds with his administration’s move to bolster its firepower in the region and request another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war.
The U.S. is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, an official told The Associated Press. Two other U.S. officials confirmed that ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Days earlier the U.S. redirected another group of amphibious assault ships carrying another 2,500 Marines from the Pacific to the Middle East. The Marines will join more than 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region.
Trump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but also has asserted that he retains all options.
Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, a spokesperson for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, was quoted by a state-run newspaper Friday as saying Iran continues to manufacture missiles despite Israel’s claim that it destroyed Iran’s production capabilities. Iranian state television later said Naeini was killed in an airstrike.
Iran threatens attacks beyond the Middle East
Supreme Leader Ayatollah praised Iranians’ steadfastness in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television to mark Nowruz. He said the U.S. and Israeli attacks were based on an illusion that killing Iran’s top leaders could cause the overthrow of the government.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader following Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah , and reportedly wounded him. Airstrikes have also killed the head of its Supreme National Security Council and a .
Iran’s top military spokesperson, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide will not be safe for the country’s enemies. The threat renewed concerns that Tehran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic.
NATO pulls mission from Iraq
NATO’s top commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, said the alliance has relocated to Europe several hundred personnel in Iraq who were advising Iraqi defense and security officials. The move came after a string of Iranian attacks on other troops at British, French and Italian bases in the country.
Iran has escalated attacks on its Gulf neighbors since Israel bombed its massive , while keeping a in the , a through which a fifth of the world’s oil and other critical goods are transported.
Two waves of Iranian drones attacked a Kuwaiti oil refinery early Friday, sparking a fire. The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, is one of the largest in the Middle East.
, the international standard, has soared during the fighting and was around $108 per barrel, up from roughly $70 before the war.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously suggested the newly announced pause for sanctions on Iranian oil as a way to prevent China from being the sole beneficiary of Iranian oil.
The administration also eased sanctions on certain Russian oil shipments for 30 days as the U.S. looks for ways to ܰԲ.
The license has limits including a restriction on sales involving anyone in North Korea or Cuba.
In his social media post, Trump left a muddled picture of his plans for the strait, saying other nations that use it would need to police it but that shouldn’t be necessary once the threat of Iran “is eradicated.”
Trump earlier labeled NATO partners as “cowards” for not directly joining operations to secure the waterway.
British ministers said Friday that they agreed to let the U.S. use U.K. bases in operations to prevent Iran from attacking ships in the strait.
Mideast marks the end of Ramadan, Persian New Year
Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city, where many were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Loud explosions were heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned of incoming Iranian missiles. The military said missile fragments struck the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City, home to sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war. Israeli strikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants have displaced more than 1 million people, according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
Price reported from Washington, and Watson from San Diego. AP journalists Sam Mednick in Jerusalem; David Rising in Bangkok; Panagiotis Pylas in London; Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; Lorne Cook in Brussels and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.
