“THREE MAD POWERS”
Four weeks after the US and Israel first attacked Iran on Feb 28, Tehran resident Ensieh said she was “losing more hope” every day.
“We’re caught between three mad powers, and war is terrifying,” the 46-year-old dentist told AFP journalists outside Iran.
“I know I’ll never be the same person again.”
Global markets have been upended by Iranian attacks on trade and energy targets in the Gulf, with Kuwait saying its main commercial port was hit in a drone attack at dawn.
Oil prices closed more than 4 per cent higher ON Friday even after Trump extended his Hormuz ultimatum for a second time.
Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on aligned regional groups – a reference to Hezbollah, among others, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported.
Lebanon was drawn into the war after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.
Blasts rocked largely deserted south Beirut early Friday and again in the afternoon, killing two people.
More than one million people are displaced in a “deepening humanitarian crisis”, UNHCR’s local representative Karolina Lindholm Billing warned, adding that “the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe … is real.”
Israel has shown no sign of wavering, with Defence Minister Israel Katz vowing to “intensify and expand” strikes on Iran, despite opposition leader Yair Lapid warning the military was “stretched to the limit and beyond.”
Yemen’s Houthi movement warned Friday it would join the war if US-Israeli attacks continue hitting Iran or if more countries enter the conflict.
The Houthis have attacked Red Sea shipping in past regional conflicts but have yet to intervene in the month-old war.