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Welcome
to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Iran’s
parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has condemned Donald Trump’s
threats to target energy and transport infrastructure, saying he was being
misled by Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Your
reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every
single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on
following Netanyahu’s commands,” Qalibaf posted on X.
Late on
Sunday, Netanyahu suggested Israel assisted the US with its rescue of the
downed airman in Iran. The Israeli prime minister said he had spoken to Trump
and “congratulated him on his bold decision and a perfectly executed American
mission”. “The president expressed his appreciation for Israel’s help,”
Netanyahu said.
On
Sunday, the US president used expletive-laden language to call on Iran to let
ships through the strait of Hormuz as he threatened to further attack Iranian
energy and transport infrastructure. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “Open
the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
Showing
it still had the ability to cause damage despite the US-Israeli pounding, Iran
expanded attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure over the weekend, launching
drone and missile strikes on petrochemical facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain and
the United Arab Emirates.
The
Revolutionary Guards also said they hit an Israeli-linked vessel at Dubai’s
Jebel Ali port.
A wrecked
car near damaged buildings at the site of what Bahrain said was falling debris
of an intercepted Iranian drone at the weekend
In other
key developments:
Trump was
sharply rebuked by US politicians, including Republican former ally Marjorie
Taylor Greene, who called on the administration to “intervene in Trump’s
madness”, adding the president “has gone insane, and all of you are complicit”.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote that “the President of the United
States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media”. Schumer added:
“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is,
but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”
Crude oil
prices opened higher on Monday after Trump’s threats to Iran. West Texas
Intermediate – the US benchmark – rose 1.86% to $113.62 a barrel while North
Sea Brent crude was also higher at the week’s market opening, climbing 1.16% to
$110.30 a barrel.
The
second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter jet was rescued by the US
overnight, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in south-west
Iran. Trump said the crew member was “seriously wounded” but “safe and sound”
after a mission that was reportedly made possible with the help of CIA
subterfuge.
At least
five people were reported to have been killed in US-Israeli attacks in
south-west Iran during the rescue operations.
Israeli
rescuers recovered the bodies of two people killed after an Iranian ballistic
missile hit a residential building in the northern Israeli city of Haifa,
Israeli media reported. Rescue efforts were continuing on Monday morning to
reach two other missing.
On
Sunday, Iran said it struck a petrochemicals complex in Bahrain. Video footage
showed thick black smoke rising from the site.
The
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a number of its facilities had been targeted
by Iranian drone attacks, resulting in fires and “significant material losses”.
Kuwait also reported that two power and water desalination plants sustained
“significant material damage” after being attacked by Iranian drones.
Israeli
attacks in Lebanon on Sunday killed at least 15 people, the country’s health
ministry said, while Israel’s military chief visited troops in southern Lebanon
and pledged to intensify strikes against Hezbollah. One of Israel’s strikes in
Beirut on Sunday killed at least five people and wounded 52 in the Jnah
neighbourhood, the Lebanese ministry said.
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