Iran targets US/UK base with missile reach 'beyond what enemy imagined'

Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the US-UK military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Saturday. Mehr called it a "significant step ... that shows that the range of Iran's missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined". 

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Iran had launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the base but that they did not hit it.

EXPLAINER Diego Garcia: An atoll, an air base and a Trump U-turn

Meanwhile, the UN atomic watchdog has called for restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident, following reports the US ​and Israel ‌launched an attack ​on ​the Natanz uranium-enrichment ⁠facility ​on ​Saturday morning. 

Iran's Tasnim ​news ​agency said no radioactive ‌leaks ⁠occurred and residents near ​the ​site ⁠were not ​at ​risk.

An Iraqi officer was killed on Saturday in a drone attack targeting an Iraqi intelligence services building in a residential Baghdad neighborhood. Iraqi intelligence condemned the event, calling it "a terrorist attack carried out by rogue elements." No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

President Donald Trump said his administration was considering "winding down" military operations in the Middle East even as the United States announced it was sending more warships and Marines to the region.

Israel says a kindergarten was damaged in an Iranian strike

Israel said Iran continued to fire missiles at it early Saturday and that missile fragments impacted a kindergarten in central Israel, but there were no casualties. 

The Israeli military said early Saturday it was striking targets in Tehran shorlty after announcing the military said it had begun a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah positions across the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.

Hours earlier, the army renewed evacuation warnings for seven neighborhoods in Beirut's suburbs, prompting some residents to fire gunshots to alert families who had returned to flee.

Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in just a couple of hours in the country's eastern region, which is home to major oil installations. The defense ministry said there were no injuries or damage.

South Korea and Japan talk with Tehran 

South Korea says it's talking with Tehran on securing energy routes after Iran's foreign minister said Tehran may allow Japanese vessels to pass the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that negotiations with Tokyo are ongoing.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Saturday in a statement it was having "multifaceted" talks with Iran and other related nations to find ways to "protect our citizens and secure energy transport routes."

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country doesn't have "any dispute" with its neighbors and that the "only beneficiary of our differences is the Zionist entity," referring to Israel.

Iran holds funeral services for intelligence minister

Iran held a funeral service Saturday for Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib in the holy city of Qom, a center of Shiite Muslim shrines and scholarship, the Islamic Republic's state-run media reported.

Khatib was killed in an Israeli strike last week. He was one of the top Iranian officials killed in the war including the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A funeral procession was also held Saturday for Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini, who was killed a day earlier in an Israeli strike, according to Iran's state-run media.

United Airlines prepares for oil to reach $175 a barrel

The United Airline's CEO said the company is cutting more unprofitable flights over the next two quarters and is also preparing for oil to not return to $100 a barrel until the end of 2027.

Scott Kirby said in a message to United employees on Friday that jet fuel prices that have more than doubled in the last three weeks already would cost the airline $11 billion a year if they remain where they are now.