Iran says US, UK ships carrying Israel cargo are targets

Iranian officials are sending a coordinated message to Arab nations surrounding the Persian Gulf as tensions escalate across the region, insisting Tehran’s military actions are directed at the United States and Israel rather than neighboring countries.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been speaking with regional counterparts, including in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister in which he said Iranian missile strikes were aimed at American interests and did not target Qatar.

At the same time, Iran’s top political figures have echoed similar messaging publicly. President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a post addressed to “friendly and neighboring countries” that Iran had tried to avoid war through diplomacy but that US and Israeli military attacks left Tehran with “no choice but to defend ourselves,” adding that Iran respects the sovereignty of regional states.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf also sought to reassure neighbors, saying Iran’s missile and drone capabilities were being used solely for “legitimate defense” against US and Israeli attacks and expressing hope that cooperation among regional countries would resume once the conflict ends.

Qatar’s prime minister has called for an immediate halt to Iranian attacks on countries in the region, accusing Tehran of striking civilian areas inside the Gulf state.

In a statement posted on X, Qatar’s foreign ministry said Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani made the remarks during a phone call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

According to the statement, Araghchi said Iranian missile strikes were aimed at US interests and did not target Qatar. Al Thani rejected the claim, saying the attacks hit civilian and residential areas, including near Hamad International Airport and industrial zones that house liquefied natural gas production facilities.

The prime minister said such attacks violate Qatari sovereignty and warned that they “cannot go unanswered,” citing the country’s right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Turkey has drawn up contingency plans to manage a potential influx of people fleeing the war in neighboring Iran, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said on Wednesday, including the possibility of buffer zones along the border and temporary camps.

He said Turkey had prepared the capacity to accommodate up to 90,000 people in the event of a sudden surge, including through tent camps and temporary housing facilities.

He said there was currently no unusual movement at the three official Iran-Turkey border crossings, though a Reuters witness on Monday saw hundreds of Iranians crossing into Turkey.

Ciftci said authorities ​had been informed that Iran was restricting its own citizens from leaving the country, while allowing Turkish nationals and third-country citizens to exit.

Operatives from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence signaled openness to talks with the US Central Intelligence Agency on ending the war, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing officials briefed on the matter.

The offer was made through an unnamed country’s spy agency, the report said, citing unnamed Middle Eastern officials and officials from a Western nation.

A source from Iran’s intelligence ministry rejected the report as “absolute lies and psychological warfare in the midst of war,” according to Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News.

Killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will carry a heavy price for Donald Trump, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said in a message he posted on X.

“Mr. Trump, with Netanyahu’s clownish games you dragged the American nation into an unjust war with Iran,” Larijani wrote.

Larijani also claimed that more than 500 US troops had been killed in the conflict, a figure far higher than the US military says. The US military has reported six American service members killed so far.

“Now calculate whether, with more than 500 American troops killed in these past few days, it is still America First or Israel First?,” he said.

“The story is not over,” he added. “The martyrdom of Imam Khamenei will have a heavy price for you.”