Here’s What Happened in the War in the Middle East on Saturday

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq was attacked as the war with Iran entered its third week on Saturday, and Iran doubled down on its control over the Strait of Hormuz despite threats by President Trump.

Mr. Trump called on countries that rely on the strait, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil supplies before the war, to help secure the shipping route. In a Saturday post on Truth Social, he said that the United States had “completely decimated” Iran and would assist other nations in securing the passage, adding, “This should have always been a team effort, and now it will be.”

The Iranian government struck a defiant tone against the United States on Saturday. In an interview with MS Now, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the waterway would remain closed to ships that belong to the United States, Israel and their allies. He also insisted that there was “no problem” with Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba ⁠Khamenei, despite statements from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and three Iranian officials that Mr. Khamenei had been wounded.

Here’s what else happened on Saturday:

Death toll: More than 2,100 people have been killed since the start of the war, most in Iran. More than 1,348 civilians there had been killed as of Wednesday, said Iran’s representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani. Up to 3.2 million people are now displaced inside the country, according to preliminary assessments by the U.N. refugee agency.

In Lebanon, officials said that more than 800 people had been killed — including over 100 children — and more than 2,000 others have been wounded. Over 800,000 people have been displaced in the country.

At least 13 American service members have been killed in operations related to the war, including six crew members on a U.S. military KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq on Thursday.
Iran: The Israeli military said it had struck dozens of sites across Tehran, the Iranian capital, overnight. Among the targets were a factory that helped build aerial defense systems, and the Iranian government’s main space research center, which was developing military satellites for intelligence collection, according to the Israeli military. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian authorities on either claim.

Residents in Tehran described the streets of the capital as empty and lifeless with many businesses closed or struggling. Those who remain mostly stay home, while others have fled to the Caspian Sea, one resident said.

Lebanon: The Israeli military continued to hit Beirut, the Lebanese capital, as it expanded airstrikes into other areas of the country where the Iran-backed miltia Hezbollah does not exercise control. A strike on Saturday hit an apartment building in the Bourj Hammoud district, northeast of Beirut, killing at least one person and wounding four others, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The same building had been hit the night before.

The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, was in Beirut on Saturday to call for an end to the fighting. “They were dragged into it,” he said of the Lebanese people.
Persian Gulf: The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was attacked overnight for the second time since the war with Iran started. The embassy urged all American citizens to leave Iraq immediately. Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday.

An overnight strike in Baghdad also hit a headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah, killing three people, including one of its commanders, according to an official from the group as well as an Iraqi security official.
Oil: Hours after U.S. airstrikes hit Iranian military infrastructure on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s main oil export terminal, Mr. Trump threatened to bomb the island’s oil infrastructure if Iran did not allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz at the other end of the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps did not heed Mr. Trump’s threat, asserting on Saturday that the strait was under its full control and that “any attempt to move or transit will be targeted.” In the MS Now interview, Mr. Araghchi said the waterway was open to ships that do not belong to the United States, Israel or their allies.

“Others are free to pass,” he said. “Of course, many of them prefer not to because of security concerns. This has nothing to do with us.”
Israel: Israel has started relaxing national emergency restrictions in parts of the country, reflecting assessments by U.S. and Israeli officials that the pace of Tehran’s attacks have been slowing. Schools and universities should be able to reopen on Monday in much of southern Israel, according to updated guidelines. Schools in major metropolitan areas of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv still remain closed.