Two teenagers killed in Shiraz, two dead in Abu Dhabi as Iran war expands

As the US-Israel war on Iran expands, attacks by Israel and the United States killed two teenagers in Shiraz, while two people were reportedly killed in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.

The Iranian teenagers were killed on Wednesday evening in an assault on a residential area in the county of Shiraz, Iranian media reported. The IRNA news agency identified the boys as Ilya and Amir Hossein Sharafi, who lived in the village of Kafri.

Hours later, on Thursday, the Israeli military said it was launching a “wave of extensive strikes” targeting the city of Isfahan in central Iran.

The toll on civilians in the region worsened on Thursday as the UAE reported that two people were killed in Abu Dhabi after debris from an ‌intercepted missile fell on a main road, amid continued Iranian attacks across the Gulf.

‘Nonstop’ attacks in Iran, injuries reported in Israel

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran, said attacks in Iran had been “going on nonstop”.

“It’s a vast campaign just like any other day, but it is increasing in number and in intensity,” he said.

Strikes were also reported in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Karaj, as well as at the Lamerd airport in Fars province. Mashhad and Taybad cities in Razavi Khorasan province, near the border with Afghanistan, were also hit, despite having been so far largely spared from the conflict.

Vall said these latest targets pointed to “an expansion of the number of cities and the geographic area” of the US-Israeli strikes.

Meanwhile, Iran’s latest missile barrage injured several people in central Israel.

The Arutz Sheva news outlet reported three people were injured in the city of Kfar Qasim, east of Tel Aviv.

Sirens warning of missile and rocket fire were activated across central Israel, the Jerusalem area, and in parts of the occupied West Bank.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal to end the war was near, despite Iran dismissing his 15-point ceasefire plan and issuing its own demands.

Trump insisted that talks were under way, despite Iranian leaders having denied contact.

“They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” the US president said.

Meanwhile, more attacks were reported by Gulf states, where Iran claims to be targeting US assets.

The Saudi Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems shot down five drones launched towards the Eastern province, shortly after intercepting 17 drones over the same region.

Kuwait’s National Guard said two drones were shot down to protect vital sites. In Bahrain, civil defence extinguished a fire at a facility in the Muharraq governorate that caused no injuries.