Israeli warplanes struck the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in an airstrike on a factory that produced refrigerators and heaters. The strike was part of a sustained Israeli air campaign aimed at destroying Iran’s capacity to launch missiles and weakening the security infrastructure of the Iranian government. Israel conducted dozens of raids across Iran on Saturday, operating in close coordination with a simultaneous US bombing effort that included further strikes on Kharg Island.
Iran fired rockets toward Israel in return, maintaining pressure on Israeli territory as it simultaneously launched ballistic missiles at the UAE. The multi-front nature of the conflict — with attacks and counter-attacks spanning Iran, Israel, the UAE, Lebanon, and Iraq — illustrated just how quickly the war had spread since its outbreak on February 28. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth characterised Iran’s leadership as “desperate and hiding,” though analysts noted the regime remained operationally intact and capable of sustaining its campaign.
President Trump said in public statements that US strikes had effectively destroyed most of Kharg Island and left open the possibility of further strikes on the facility. Trump also took to Truth Social to call on allied nations to contribute warships to a multilateral effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He specifically named China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK. The strait, closed by Iran since hostilities began, carries roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas and its continued blockade was pushing energy prices to dangerous levels.
Iran’s military threatened to strike any oil, economic, or energy facility in the region tied to American companies. The country’s foreign minister argued that the US security presence in the Middle East had been counterproductive and called on neighbours to remove American forces. In the UAE, Fujairah — a global ship-refuelling hub — suffered from Iranian missile strikes that suspended oil-loading operations. The emirate’s government condemned the attack as terrorism but said it was still seeking a peaceful resolution.
The humanitarian toll across the region continued to mount. More than 1,400 Iranians had been killed in the sustained bombing campaign. Thirteen people had died in Israel, and around 20 in Gulf states. Lebanon’s crisis deepened, with over 800 killed and 850,000 displaced from Israeli operations against Hezbollah. The US embassy in Baghdad was struck overnight, and all Americans in Iraq were ordered to leave immediately. Six US service members died in a military aircraft crash in western Iraq. With Trump offering no timeline for an end, analysts warned the window for avoiding a catastrophic global economic crisis was shrinking fast.