Trump threatens Iran following new wave of attacks on Gulf states and Israel

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched multiple attacks early Friday on Gulf Arab states, including dozens of drones at Saudi Arabia, following warnings from its new supreme leader about hosting American bases, and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened major new retaliation.

“Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today," Trump wrote in a social media post. “Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.”

The comments came the day after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to “not refrain from avenging the blood” of Iranians killed, and warned Gulf Arab nations to shut U.S. bases, saying the notion of American protection was “nothing more than a lie.”

Intense airstrikes hit early Friday around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as outlying areas. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 per barrel as Iran kept its stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil transits on its way from the Persian Gulf to the open seas.

Brent prices have spiked as high as about $120 per barrel and are currently some 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.

Iran has been attacking ships that try to transit the strait, and Khamenei's comments — his first to the public since being named to replace his father, who was killed during the first day of the conflict — said Iran would continue to block the waterway.

In Iraq, recovery efforts were underway after an American KC-135 refueling plane went down, according to U.S. Central Command. And a French soldier who was stationed in the north of the country was killed in an attack, the French president said Friday.

Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructur e around the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia that it had downed nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves throughout the early morning hours.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain warning of incoming fire from Dubai, and black smoke billowed from an industrial area after authorities said debris from an interception had sparked a blaze.

Nearly 60 people were wounded in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it had fired several rocket salvoes toward the area and at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Almost all the injuries were described as very minor.

One person was killed in southwestern Beirut in an Israeli strike, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and another attack hit an apartment in the capital, leaving it engulfed in flames. Following the attacks, the Israeli army said it had been targeting a member of Iran-linked Hezbollah.

More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, the Health Ministry has reported. and nearly 800,000 have been internally displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. The U.S. has lost at least seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.

In his Friday morning post, Trump said that "we are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise."

“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump said. “What a great honor it is to do so!”

The U.S. military said American forces have now struck more than 6,000 targets since the operation against Iran began, including more than 30 minelaying vessels.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed in an attack targeting Irbil in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. France earlier said six soldiers had been hurt in a drone strike in Irbil, where French troops are deployed as part of a multinational counterterrorism mission supporting Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State militants.

In the same region, British officials said several U.S. personnel suffered minor injuries Wednesday when drone strikes hit a base in Irbil that houses both British and American troops.

Italy said that a base where it has troops in Irbil was also hit Wednesday but that there were no injuries. The Italian contingent in the region trains local Kurdish troops at the request of the Iraqi government

Recovery efforts were underway in western Iraq on Friday after the American KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties, but the aircraft had five crew on board.

U.S. Central Command said the crash was not related to friendly or hostile fire, and that two aircraft were involved, including one that landed safely.

The KC-135 is the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft to crash as part of the U.S. military’s operations against Iran. Last week, three American fighter jets were mistakenly downed by friendly Kuwaiti fire.

Rising reported from Bangkok and Abou AlJoud from Beirut, Lebanon

Smoke from an explosion rises behind demonstrators attending the annual anti-Israeli Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 13, 2026. (Mohammad Mahdi Dehghani/Fars News Agency via AP)

Facade of a building at Dubai's financial district is seen partially damaged which, according to the authorities was caused by falling debris after a successful interception, United Arab Emirates, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A cleric chants slogans during the annual anti-Israeli Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day rally in support of Palestinians in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People check a house where multiple family members were killed by an Israeli airstrike, in Erkay village, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A man looks a the site struck by an Iranian missile in Zarzir, northern Israel, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Residents inspect a house destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Zarzir, northern Israel, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Officers from Israel's Home Front Command inspect a house destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Zarzir, northern Israel, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Residents and officers from Israel's Home Front Command inspect a house destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Zarzir, northern Israel, Friday, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli authorities inspect homes damaged by a projectile launched from Lebanon, in Haniel, central Israel, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Workers inspect damage caused by a drone strike overnight at the Address Creek Harbour hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

An oil tanker burns after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone at Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, late Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo)

A woman sits on rubble across from a residential building damaged last Sunday during the U.S.-Israeli air campaign in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Residents watch as smoke rises from a nearby building during an Israeli strike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

MALE, Maldives (AP) — Divers on Wednesday recovered the last two bodies of four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in the Maldives last week.

The Italian divers had been exploring the cave in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday when they disappeared. The body of their Italian diving instructor was recovered outside the cave and the Finnish recovery divers brought the bodies of two of the divers to the surface Tuesday.

Presidential spokesperson Mohameed Hussain Shareef said the last two bodies were recovered by three Finnish divers supported by the Maldives coastguard and police.

The bodies were taken to a morgue and identified as Muriel Oddenino and Giorgia Sommacal. On Tuesday Monica Montefalcone and Federico Gualtieri were brought out, government spokesperson Ahmed Shaam said. The instructor, Gianluca Benedetti, was found near the mouth of the cave on the day the divers disappeared.

Montefalcone and Sommacal were mother and daughter.

“After that we will coordinate with the Italian government and start the procedure to repatriate the bodies,” Shareef said. He thanked the Finnish divers, praising them for their professionalism and leadership.

The four bodies were located Monday at a depth of around 60 meters (200 feet), twice the legal depth for recreational diving in the island nation. The search had been temporarily suspended after a local military diver died during a perilous retrieval attempt.

The Maldives government said the recovery divers spotted the bodies in the cave’s innermost area. Shaam said the four bodies were found “pretty much together.”

The cave has been explored in the past by local experts and foreign divers, presidential spokesperson Shareef told The Associated Press earlier.

While the Italian divers had a permit, authorities didn’t know from their proposal the exact location of the cave they were exploring, and at least two of the dead were not on the list of researchers that had been submitted, “so we didn’t know they were part of the expedition,” Shareef said.

He described the conditions deep in the cave as “challenging” with difficult terrain, strong currents and poor visibility.

An alert had also been issued due to bad weather and investigators must determine whether the divers took adequate precautions, Shareef said.

The Divers’ Alert Network Europe, which deployed the Finnish divers, described them as technical and cave divers with experience in search and recovery missions, including operations in “deep overhead environments, confined spaces and high-risk scenarios.”

The rescue team used closed-circuit rebreathers, a system that recycles exhaled breathing gas and removes carbon dioxide through a chemical scrubber, allowing for “significantly longer dives,” the organization said.

The cause of death of the Maldivian military diver was still under investigation, but colleagues have suggested he may have died from nitrogen narcosis or decompression at depth.

Francis reported from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In this handout photo release by Maldives President Media Division, a Finnish diver gets ready to attempt to recover the bodies of two of the four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll earlier this month, at Alimathaa Island, in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Maldives President Media Division via AP)

In this handout photo release by Maldives President Media Division, a Finnish diver, left, gets ready to attempt to recover the bodies of two of the four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll earlier this month, at Alimathaa Island, in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (Maldives President Media Division via AP)