Iran seeks to calm Arab neighbors amid war

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.”

Iran will target Israeli embassies worldwide if Israel attacks Iran’s embassy in Beirut, the country's armed forces spokesman said on Wednesday.

“Israel has threatened to target Iran’s embassy in Lebanon,” Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesperson for the General Staff of Iran’s armed forces, said.

“If such a crime is carried out, we will be forced to consider all of its embassies around the world legitimate targets, and this will certainly happen,” he added.