War in the Middle East: latest developments

Here are the latest events in the Middle East war on Saturday:

- Trump blames Iran for school strike -

US President Donald Trump blamed Iran for a deadly strike on an elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab, which Iranian officials say killed at least 150 people.

"We think it was done by Iran. Because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

A New York Times investigation has found the US military was most likely responsible.

- Kurd offensive? -

Trump also said he did not want the Kurds to launch an offensive against Iran, following speculation that Kurdish groups might use the war as a chance to seize more autonomy.

"We're not looking to the Kurds going in," he said. We don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is."

Trump had told Reuters news agency Thursday he would be "all for" an offensive by Iranian Kurdish fighters in support of the US-Israeli war.

- Netanyahu vows 'all our force' -

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue its war with Iran "with all our force" as part of "a systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime."

The "moment of truth" was coming for the Iranian people, he said, and Israel wanted to help liberate them from the "yoke of tyranny".

He added that US and Israeli air strikes had secured "almost complete control of the airspace" over Tehran.

Israel's military said earlier it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since the start of the war a week ago.

- Tehran oil depots hit -

US and Israeli strikes hit an oil depot in Tehran, Iranian state media said, the first reported attack on Iran's oil infrastructure.

The depot was close to a key oil refinery but the ILNA news agency said the refinery's facilities were not damaged.

Strikes also hit a depot in northwestern Tehran, according to an AFP journalist who saw flames and smoke rising from the site.

Separately, Israel said it hit 16 military aircraft belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in overnight strikes on Mehrabad airport, in Tehran.

- Italy sends frigate -

Italy is sending a frigate to protect Cyprus after a drone strike on a British base on the Mediterranean island "to ensure the security of the European Union's borders," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.

"But our position is very clear: Italy is not part of the conflict and does not intend to become part of it," she added.

- Sri Lanka -

Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said, following reports that Washington is pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.

The South Asian country recovered 32 sailors and 84 bodies from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday just off Sri Lanka's southern coast.

- Israel tallies strikes -

Israel's military said Saturday it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran since the start of the war a week ago.

Earlier Saturday evening, it announced a fresh wave of strikes on Tehran, and an AFP journalist there reported massive explosions in the south of the city.

- Turkey warning -

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned against efforts to spark a civil war in Iran. "This is the most dangerous scenario," he told journalists.

Fidan also warned Iran over the ballistic missile launched from Iran towards Turkey earlier the week and intercepted by NATO.

"If this was a missile that lost its way, that's one thing. But if this is going to continue... our advice is: be careful, don't let anyone in Iran embark on such an adventure," he said.

- Explosions in Iraq -

Explosions were heard on Saturday night in Iraq's capital Baghdad, AFP journalists reported, including rockets fired at the US embassy, which were intercepted, security sources said.

"Four rockets were launched... toward the embassy," one security official told AFP, adding that air defences intercepted three while one fell in an open area in the embassy's airbase.

AFP journalists also reported explosions in the city of Erbil.

- Iran to choose new supreme leader -

A member of Iran's Assembly of Experts said Saturday the body would meet within a day to choose the country's next supreme leader, Iranian media reported.

- Trump hails war progress -

US President Donald Trump told Latin American leaders at a Florida summit: "We're doing very well in Iran, and you see the result."

Repeating his claim that Iran had been close to having a nuclear weapon, he added: "They're crazy and they would have used it. So we did the world a favor."

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