The Latest: Iran retaliates against Gulf energy sites as stocks sink worldwide

The Iran war persisted Friday in drawing Arab neighbors directly into the conflict, with heavy explosions shaking Dubai early in the morning as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city as people observed Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry reported a fire erupted Friday morning after shrapnel fell on a warehouse in the island kingdom, while Kuwait said it worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Saudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

Israel hit the Iranian capital Tehran with airstrikes Friday morning. Activists reported sounds of the strikes around the city as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

The morning attacks followed Israel's pledge the previous day to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field, while Iran kept up its wave of attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf, which have caused millions of people to move into shelters and sent shock waves through the global economy.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has spiked since Israel and the U.S. started the war with Iran. The death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon topped 1,000 people on Thursday during renewed fighting with the militant group Hezbollah.

Here is the latest:

The spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted Friday that Tehran was still building missiles, seeking to counter a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it no longer could.

Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini made the comments in a report quoted by Iran’s state-run IRAN newspaper.

Referencing how Iranian schools consider a 20 as a perfect score, the general said: “Our missile industry score is 20 and there is no concern in this regard because we are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling.”

He also said the war would go on.

“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” the general said of the Iranian public. “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.

Fire crews in Kuwait were working to contain a blaze early Friday in one of Mina Al-Ahmadi’s oil refinery units.

The firest resulted from an Iranian drone attack, thee Kuwait fire force said.

There was no immediate information about the extent of damage.

This was the second attack on the refinery by Iranian drones Friday morning.

Israel’s military said Friday it struck sites in Syria in response to attacks against the Druze.

The army said it struck infrastructure belonging to Syria in response to attacks on Druze population in Sweida in southern Syria.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency did not immediately acknowledge the attack, which marks the first Israeli attack on Syria as its war with the United States targeting Iran continues.

Israel has a significant Druze population. Israel previously has intervened in defense of the Druze in Syria, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.

Kuwait said Friday its Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery again came under attack by Iranian drones, which sparked a fire at several of its units.

Iranian state television acknowledged the attack Friday without claiming responsibility.

Kuwait said firefighters were trying to control the blazes and there were no immediate injuries from the attack.

The Iranian attack came as Kuwait marked Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The attack Friday comes as Iran increasingly targets energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel on Wednesday bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Mina Al-Ahmadi can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day. It is one of three oil refineries in Kuwait, a tiny, oil-rich nation on the Persian Gulf.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said it shut down the units affected by the attack. Kuwait has been unable to export its oil as the war has gone on because it relies on sending it out by sea through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a particular target of Iranian attack as the war has gone on.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry reported a fire erupted Friday morning after shrapnel fell on a warehouse in the island kingdom. Firefighters worked to control the blaze, it said.

Saudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple Iranian drones Friday morning targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

Heavy explosions shook Dubai in the United Arab Emirates early Friday as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city.

A missile alert sounded prior to the strike, with authorities saying there were activating air defenses to counter an Iranian barrage.

The Dubai Media Office, the sheikhdom’s government communication’s arm, said, “Authorities in Dubai confirm the success of all air interception operations, with no injuries reported.”

It came as the UAE marked Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and as mosques made the day’s first call to prayers.

Kuwait also said Friday morning it had worked to intercept incoming Iranian fire.

Iranians marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year, early Friday morning as airstrikes began.

Israel’s military said very early Friday it had begun to strike Tehran.

Activists reported hearing strikes around Tehran after Israel’s announcement of a new wave of attacks.

The announcement came after an intense day of Iranian missile strikes targeting Israel, with more than a dozen launches on Thursday alone, according to Israel’s military.

Members from Kataib Hezbollah attend the funeral of their colleagues who were killed in a U.S. airstrike in Qaim province, according to their statement, in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool Photo via AP)

Israeli security forces inspect an apartment struck by an Iranian missile that killed two people in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A bride and her family in the midst of a wedding photo session take cover in a bomb shelter after an alert from Israel's Home Front Command warned of missiles fired from Iran toward central Israel, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People take shelter in an Underground tunnel as air raid sirens signal a warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Federal prosecutors asked a judge Friday to dismiss the charges against two Louisville officers accused of falsifying the warrant that led police to raid Breonna Taylor's apartment the night she was killed six years ago.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that their review of the case showed the charges against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany should be “dismissed in the interest of justice."

Judges have twice reduced a felony charge against each officer to a misdemeanor, saying there wasn't a direct link between the false information in the warrant and Taylor's death. Prosecutors said after the second ruling that they had decided to drop the cases.

"We are elated with this development,” said Travis Lock, an attorney for Jaynes.

Meany's lawyer, Michael Denbow, said he is "incredibly grateful for today’s filing.”

Meany “is looking forward to putting this matter behind him and moving forward with his life,” he said.

Taylor was shot to death by police when they broke down the door of her apartment while serving a no-knock drug warrant looking for a former boyfriend who no longer lived there.

Taylor's boyfriend at the time fired at the officers, and Taylor was killed as police fired back.

Federal prosecutors under former President Joe Biden pressed charges against the officers. Under President Donald Trump, though, the Department of Justice asked that Brett Hankison, the only officer serving prison time related to Taylor's killing, be let out of prison while he appeals his conviction.

Taylor’s mother, Tamkia Palmer, said in a Facebook post that she is extremely disappointed in Trump’s Justice Department.

“Their phone call today informing me that charges against the police are being dropped while implying they have helped me is utterly disrespectful," Palmer wrote. “This is the first time I’ve heard from them since they took over and it’s clear they have not served me or Breonna well.”

A federal judge sentenced Hankison to 2 years and nine months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for blindly firing 10 shots into Taylor’s windows on the night she was killed. None of the shots hit anyone.

Neither of the two officers who did shoot Taylor was charged, after prosecutors deemed they were justified in returning fire into the apartment.

Police found no drugs or cash inside Taylor's apartment. The city paid a $12 million wrongful death settlement to Taylor’s family.

The death of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, led to months of protests in the streets of Louisville in 2020, the same year Ahmaud Arbery was killed while jogging in Georgia and George Floyd was choked to death by an officer in Minneapolis.

Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

FILE - Sgt. Kyle Meany of the Louisville Metro Police Department testifies, Feb. 23, 2022, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool)

FILE - This undated photo released by the Louisville (Kentucky) Police shows Louisville Police Det. Joshua Jaynes an officer fired Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Louisville Police via AP, File)

FILE - Protesters participate in the Good Trouble Tuesday march for Breonna Taylor, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Louisville, Ky. (Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)