‘Oil rain’ falls on Tehran after apocalyptic strikes on refineries
• Capital plunges into darkness; residents warned of chemical burns, acrid fumes
• Lebanon terrorised as Israeli strike targets Beirut hotel
• Israel, Trump vow to pursue, kill any successor to Khamenei
• Iran unleashes missiles on Gulf neighbours; Pezeshkian says they were ‘forced to respond’
• Arab League condemns ‘reckless’ Iranian attacks as diplomacy falters
• Bahrain blames Tehran for attack on water plant
TEHRAN: Residents of Iran’s capital awoke on Sunday to a darkened, apocalyptic sky as a black, oily rain fell, a day after Israeli airstrikes targeted refineries and fuel depots, plunging the sprawling metropolis into a toxic gloom.
The nine-day-old war launched by a US-Israeli coalition against Iran has now engulfed much of the Middle East, with strikes and counter-strikes rocking Lebanon, Iraq and several Gulf Arab nations.
In Tehran, the sun was blotted out by thick black smoke billowing from oil facilities that continued to smoulder more than 12 hours after being hit. “I thought my alarm clock was broken,” one driver told AFP. By mid-morning, drivers still needed headlights to navigate main thoroughfares.
CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen described it as “raining oil”, saying the rainwater was “black, also saturated, it appears with oil”. He added, “breathing the air feels quite toxic”.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society warned civilians of severe health risks, cautioning that the “significant quantities of toxic hydrocarbons, sulfur and nitrogen oxides” released could cause chemical burns and lung damage.
Tehran’s provincial governor advised citizens to wear face masks, as authorities worked to resolve what they called a “temporarily interrupted” fuel supply that led to long lines at gas stations. The chaos in the capital was a direct consequence of a broad offensive targeting Iran’s military and industrial infrastructure.
The Israeli military confirmed it had launched a “wave of strikes across Iran”, hitting military sites.
A military statement said it had targeted and dismantled the “space force headquarters” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Tehran, a facility it claimed was used to operate the “Khayyam” surveillance satellite.
Further strikes by the US and Israel hit five oil facilities in and near Tehran, according to an official with the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company.
At least four tanker drivers were killed in the attacks, the Fars news agency reported. In Iran’s central Isfahan province, at least 11 people were killed in what Iranian media described as US-Israeli attacks on manufacturing workshops and a horse-riding club.
Lebanon terrorised
The conflict also raged on a second front in Lebanon, where clashes between Israel and the resistance group Hezbollah intensified dramatically. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children, Lebanon’s health ministry reported Sunday.
An Israeli strike hit a hotel in central Beirut for the first time in the new conflict, killing at least four people. The Israeli military said it had “conducted a precise strike targeting key commanders” of the IRGC’s Quds Force inside the hotel.
The attack on the Raouche tourist district, an area untouched even in previous wars, shattered any remaining sense of safety in the capital. “There is no safe place,” said Abu Hussein, a taxi driver whose car was damaged in the blast.
Israel issued evacuation orders for residents of Nabatieh governorate in southern Lebanon, warning that any home used by Hezbollah for military purposes could be targeted.
The heightened hostilities claimed the first Israeli military fatalities in the country, with the army reporting two of its soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon.
Gulf states
Meanwhile, Iran’s neighbours in the Persian Gulf found themselves increasingly caught in the crossfire. Ballistic missiles and drones allegedly launched from Iran targeted Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, nations that host US military bases.
The UAE’s defence ministry reported its air defences intercepted 16 of 17 ballistic missiles and 113 of 117 drones detected Sunday alone.
It said the death toll from Iranian attacks had reached four, with 112 people injured.
Kuwait’s defence ministry said fuel tanks at its international airport were targeted in a drone attack and reported two border officers were killed “while performing their duties”. In Saudi Arabia, civil defence officials said a “military projectile” killed two foreign nationals and injured 12 others in Al Kharj governorate.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s interior ministry said on Sunday that an Iranian drone attack damaged a water desalination plant, accusing Tehran of “randomly” targeting civilian infrastructure.
The IRGC said on Saturday that it had struck the United States’ Juffair base in Bahrain, adding it had been used to attack an Iranian desalination plant earlier in the day.
Bahrain’s national communication office later said the Iranian attack on the desalination facility had no impact on water supplies or network capacity.
The widespread attacks prompted a flurry of warnings, threats and diplomatic condemnations from all sides of the conflict.
‘Forced to respond’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that his country “will be forced to respond” if any neighbouring country is used as a launchpad for attacks, a day after apologising to Gulf nations for missile strikes on their territories that he said were aimed at American bases.
However, the IRGC struck a more defiant tone, claiming they could fight an “intense war” for six months and announcing a new wave of missile strikes on Tel Aviv and an airbase in Jordan.
In Israel, the military vowed it would pursue every successor to the slain Supreme Leader Khamenei. “At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say ‘We surrender’,” US President Donald Trump told reporters, raising the notion of eliminating Iran’s leadership and military.
A report by Axios, citing multiple sources, said US and Israeli officials have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Another option under consideration, according to the report, is seizing Kharg Island, a terminal responsible for most of Iran’s crude oil exports.
While Israel openly attacked oil infrastructure, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US “is targeting zero energy infrastructure”, adding that there were “no plans to target Iran’s oil industry”.
Diplomacy
Arab leaders vehemently condemned the attacks on their soil. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called Iran’s strikes on member states “reckless” and a “massive strategic mistake”.
The UAE’s foreign ministry stressed that while it does not seek escalation, it reserves its full right to safeguard its sovereignty. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty expressed “full solidarity” with the Gulf states and called for the formation of a joint Arab force to counter regional threats.
Amid the spiralling violence, world leaders called for restraint. The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, decried the “death, destruction, displacement” of war, asking, “When will we learn?”
As France deployed warships to the Mediterranean in a show of solidarity, a Lebanese official confirmed that more than 100 Iranians, including diplomats, were evacuated from Beirut on a Russian plane.
Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026