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Iran says can fight for months as Israel strikes Beirut hotel
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said the country’s forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel, which said it struck Tehran’s commanders at a seaside hotel in the heart of Beirut.
As the conflict spilled into its second week, the regional repercussions spiralled, with Saudi Arabia intercepting a wave of drones headed for targets including the diplomatic quarter in capital Riyadh and Kuwait saying an attack hit fuel tanks at its international airport.
The strike on Kuwait’s aviation fuel storage compounded fears over energy supplies with the country’s national oil company also announcing a cut in crude production over threats to the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and gas transit.
Tehran accused the US and Israel of striking an oil depot in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the first reported assault on the Islamic republic’s oil infrastructure as stock markets have slumped and crude prices surged.
The Israeli military said it struck “a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran” that were used “to operate military infrastructure”.
Israel’s military also launched a new wave of strikes “across Tehran” on Sunday, after carrying out a precision strike targeting “key commanders” in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, at a hotel in an area of central Beirut popular with tourists.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel, where an AFP photographer saw shattered windows and charred walls.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran “with all our force”, with a plan to eradicate the country’s leadership after joint US-Israeli raids killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week, sparking the regional conflict.
Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the Islamic republic’s forces could wage an “intense war” for six months at the current speed of fighting.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used “first and second generation” missiles, but will use “advanced and less-used long-range missiles” in the coming days.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike targeted an area in Beirut’s southern suburb Photo: AFP / FADEL ITANI
‘Trapped’
The widening reach of the war and Iran’s ability to inflict damage and harm were underscored by US President Donald Trump attending the return of six American service members killed in a drone strike on a US base in Kuwait last Sunday.
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
“Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela — they would strike, take control and it would be over — but now they are trapped,” he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.
Iran’s hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also warned Middle East neighbours which are “openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy” that “the heavy attacks on these targets will continue”.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that Tehran “will be forced to respond” if a neighbouring country were to be used as a launchpad for any attack or invasion attempt.
Tehran had vowed to go after US assets in the region, and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait on Sunday all reported new attacks.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted more than a dozen drones while Qatar said Iran fired two cruise missiles and 10 ballistic missiles at the country on Saturday.
UAE forces were intercepting incoming missile and drones from Iran, the defence ministry said in a post on X.
On Saturday, video footage showed one projectile crashing at Dubai airport, while AFP journalists heard blasts in Iraq’s Baghdad and Erbil on Saturday evening.
Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential areas is mounting as its people report growing anxiety and a heavy security presence.
“I don’t think anyone who hasn’t experienced war would understand it,” a 26-year-old teacher told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s health ministry said Friday at least 926 civilians had been killed and around 6,000 wounded — figures AFP could not independently verify.
Air supremacy
Israel launched strikes on a Hezbollah bastion in the southern suburbs of Beirut, after Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war this week when the militant group attacked Israel with rockets and drones in response to Khamenei’s death.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 294 people have died in Israeli air strikes over the past week, prompting Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to warn of a looming “humanitarian disaster”.
The fresh Israeli strikes came after it launched some of its largest raids in Iran since the war began on Saturday, targeting a military academy, an underground command centre and missile storage sites.
Netanyahu said Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
Trump struck a similarly defiant tone, repeating the claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon.
He also suggested US troops could eventually be needed to secure Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles.
Separately, he blamed Iran for what the country’s authorities said was a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that killed at least 150 people. Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
Neither the US nor Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack and AFP could not independently verify the circumstances.
No clear way out
Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.
Trump has suggested Iran’s economy could be rebuilt if a leader “acceptable” to Washington replaces the late supreme leader, which Tehran has rejected.
China and Russia have largely stayed on the sidelines despite close ties with Tehran.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that the war in the Middle East should “never have happened”.
“This is a war that should never have happened,” he told a press conference in Beijing, adding that “a strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle.”
– AFP
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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