Iran launches new attacks, saying US will 'bitterly regret' sinking
warship, calls for Trump's blood
[March 05, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING, ELENA BECATOROS and SAMY
MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched a new wave of attacks
Thursday morning at Israel, American bases and countries around the
region, threatening that the United States would “bitterly regret”
torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and calling for
“Trump's blood,” while Israel said it hit multiple targets in Iran.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens
sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iranian state television said
additional strikes also targeted U.S. bases.
The Israeli military said it had hit 80 targets in Lebanon linked to the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group over the past 24 hours and that
a wave of strikes on Iran had hit long range ballistic missile launch
sites and other targets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of
committing an “an atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS
Dena in the Indian Ocean, which killed at least 87 Iranian sailors.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it
has set,” he said on social media.
Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, in one of the few clerical statements
so far from Iran, later called on state television for the shedding of
both Israeli and "Trump’s blood.”
"Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’” he said
in a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks
within the clergy of Shiite Islam.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war Saturday, targeting Iran’s
leadership and killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as
well as hitting its missile arsenal and nuclear facilities. Leaders have
suggested toppling the government is a goal, but the exact aims and
timelines have repeatedly shifted, signaling an open-ended conflict.
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 70 in
Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those
countries. It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas,
snarled international shipping and stranded hundreds of thousands of
travelers in the Middle East.
Threats expanding across the Middle East
A drone crashed Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijan
exclave bordering the north of Iran that is separated from the rest of
the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school and two
civilians were injured, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said.
Iran has not acknowledged targeting Azerbaijan, but its attacks since
the start of the war have spread erratically and involved regional
countries and beyond.
Qatar evacuated residents near the U.S. Embassy in Doha as a temporary
precaution Thursday and later reported a missile attack on the city.
Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its province bordering Jordan.
A tanker apparently came under attack off the coast of Kuwait early
Thursday, expanding the area where commercial shipping was in danger,
according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center run by
the British military. It said there was an explosion but did not offfer
a cause. Iran in the past has attacked ships by attaching limpet mines
to them.
Prior attacks since fighting began Saturday have happened in the Gulf of
Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Persian Gulf and
through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday after oil prices stopped spiking and
reports gave encouraging updates on the American economy. But oil prices
resumed their ascent early Thursday and Brent crude, the international
standard, is now up some 15% from the start of the conflict as Iranian
attacks have disrupted traffic through the strait.
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Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's
southern suburb, near Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon,
Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Iranian warship sunk on way home from multinational exercises
The Iranian ship sunk by the U.S. Navy was on its way back from
participating in a February exercise hosted by the Indian navy. The
U.S. Navy also participated in the same exercise with a P-8A
Poseidon aircraft, which is employed for anti-submarine and
anti-surface warfare as well as surveillance and reconnaissance.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 crew members were rescued, while its
navy recovered 87 bodies.
Araghchi said it had been carrying “almost 130” crew.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Wednesday that an
American submarine had sunk the ship with a torpedo.
Israel says it hits more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
U.S. and Israeli military officials say launches from Iran have
declined as their attacks have taken out ballistic missiles,
launchers and drones. Israel's Homefront Command announced it was
easing restrictions that closed workplaces nationwide, which could
reopen Thursday if there is a shelter nearby. Schools would remain
closed.
Still, explosions sounded early Thursday in Israel, which said its
defensive systems were moving to intercept at least three waves of
Iranian missiles.
At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country's
Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Eleven
people have died in Israel. Six U.S. troops have been killed,
including a major whose identity was released Wednesday.
Among the 80 targets in Lebanon that the Israel military said it hit
over the past 24 hours were “several command centers” used by
Hezbollah in Beirut. It showed video footage of a building being
hit, but provided no further details.
Another eight people were killed in Lebanon, including two in a
building struck by the Israeli military in the Beddawi refugee camp
in the coastal city of Tripoli on Thursday and three on a coastal
highway, authorities said. The Israeli military did not immediately
say who it targeted in the strikes.
In two near-simultaneous Israeli drone strikes in Beirut's southern
suburbs late Wednesday, two vehicles were hit, killing three people
and wounding six, the health ministry said. The Israeli military
said it targeted a Hezbollah member, adding that further details
would follow.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok, Becatoros from Athens, Greece, and
Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud in
Beirut, Lebanon, Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel
Aviv, Israel, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Aida Sultanova in Baku,
Azerbaijan, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Giovanna
Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report.
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