Iran threatens to target tourist sites around the world and says it is still making missiles after nearly 3 weeks of war

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After three weeks of escalating war in the Middle East, Iran on Friday threatened to expand its retaliatory attacks to include entertainment and tourist sites around the world, as the United States announced it would send more warships and Marines to the region.

He watches: How Iranians live their daily lives as the war continues

Hours later, President Donald Trump said on social media that his administration was in fact considering “ending” military operations in the region. His position came after another rise in oil prices sent the US stock market sharply lower.

The conflicting messages came at a time when the war showed no signs of abating.

As Israeli airstrikes fell in Tehran, Iran launched more attacks on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states, marking one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar. Iranians also celebrated the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, which is usually a festive holiday.

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear the extent of the damage to its weapons, nuclear or energy facilities in the US and Israeli strikes that began on February 28 – or even who was really responsible for the country. But Iranian attacks continue to choke off oil supplies, harm the global economy, and raise food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.

The United States and Israel have offered varying justifications for war, from the hope of sparking an uprising that would topple Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no overt signs of any such uprising and there is no end in sight to the war.

Trump says that the United States is close to achieving its goals

“We are very close to achieving our goals as we consider scaling back our significant military efforts in the Middle East,” the president said in his social media post.

This position seemed at odds with his administration’s move to bolster its firepower in the region and its request for another $200 billion from Congress to fund the war.

He watches: Trump says ‘we don’t need’ Strait of Hormuz after allies refuse to help US escort ships

The United States is deploying three additional amphibious assault ships and about 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. Two other American officials confirmed the deployment of the ships without mentioning their destination. The three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

News of the deployment comes just days after the United States redirected another group of amphibious assault ships carrying another 2,500 Marines from the Pacific to the Middle East. The Marines will join more than 50,000 American soldiers already in the region.

Trump said he has no plans to send ground troops to Iran, but also stressed that he reserves all options.

American and Israeli leaders say weeks of strikes have devastated the Iranian military. In addition to Iran’s Supreme Leader, the airstrikes also killed the head of the Supreme National Security Council and a host of senior military and political leaders.

A state newspaper quoted Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini, spokesman for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as saying on Friday that Iran continues to manufacture missiles despite Israel’s claim that it has destroyed Iran’s production capabilities. Iranian state television later said Naeini was killed in an air strike.

Iran threatens to launch attacks outside the Middle East

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised the steadfastness of Iranians in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television on the occasion of Nowruz. He said that the US and Israeli attacks were based on the illusion that killing Iran’s top leaders could lead to the overthrow of the government.

Read more: Iran intensifies its attacks on energy sites in the Gulf after Israel struck its main gas field

Khamenei has not been seen in public since becoming supreme leader after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was assassinated in Israeli raids at the start of the war, which reportedly also wounded him.

Iran’s chief military spokesman, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned Friday that “parks, entertainment areas and tourist destinations” around the world will not be safe for the country’s enemies. The threat renewed fears that Iran might return to using armed attacks outside the Middle East as a means of pressure.

NATO withdraws its mission from Iraq after the attacks

NATO’s Supreme Commander, General Alexus Grynkewich, confirmed on Friday that the alliance had withdrawn several hundred of its personnel from Iraq and transferred them to Europe. They were part of the NATO Security Advisory Mission established in 2018 to advise Iraqi defense and security officials.

This move came after a series of Iranian attacks on other forces at British, French and Italian bases in the country.

Iran intensified its attacks on energy sites in the Arab Gulf states after Israel bombed the huge South Pars offshore natural gas field earlier in the week.

He watches: Senator Scott says the US must balance the budget but must also “tear down” Iran’s nuclear capability

Two waves of Iranian drones attacked a Kuwaiti oil refinery early Friday, sparking a fire. Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, which can process about 730,000 barrels of oil per day, is one of the largest refineries in the Middle East.

Bahrain said a fire broke out after fragments from an intercepted projectile fell on a warehouse, and Saudi Arabia reported shooting down several drones targeting the oil-rich Eastern Province.

Iran’s attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf, as well as its clampdown on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and other vital goods are transported, have raised fears of a global energy crisis.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, has risen during the fighting and was about $108 a barrel on Friday, up from about $70 a barrel before the war began. Another rise in oil prices shook stock markets.

In his social media post, Trump also left a muddled picture about whether the United States would monitor the Strait, saying other countries using it would need to do so but that it should not be necessary once the Iranian threat is “eliminated.”

Trump described NATO partners as “cowards” for not directly joining operations to secure the waterway.

British ministers said on Friday that they had agreed to allow the United States to use British bases in operations to prevent Iran from attacking ships in the Strait.

The Middle East marks the end of Ramadan, the Persian New Year

Violent explosions rocked Dubai when air defenses intercepted fire coming over the city, where many were celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

Read more: A look at Eid al-Fitr and how Muslims celebrate the Islamic holiday

Strong explosions were also heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned of the arrival of Iranian missiles. The Israeli army said that fragments of a missile fell on the outskirts of the Old City of Jerusalem, which includes holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

More than 1,300 people were killed in Iran during the war. Israeli strikes targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have displaced more than a million people, according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. In Israel, Iranian missiles killed 15 people, and four others were killed in the occupied West Bank. At least 13 US military personnel were killed.

On Friday, Israel expanded the scope of its attacks to include Syria, saying it struck infrastructure there in response to what it described as attacks on the Druze minority. The Syrian Foreign Ministry said that Israel acted under “false pretexts and fabricated excuses.”

Price reported from Washington and Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press journalists Sam Mednick in Jerusalem; David Rising in Bangkok; Panagiotis Bellas in London; Konstantin Torobin and Michelle Price in Washington; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; Lorne Cook in Brussels and Ross Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.