Iran’s president apologizes for strikes on neighbors even as missiles and drones target their cities
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
By JON GAMBRELL, SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY / Associated Press 8 min read
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president apologized Saturday for attacks on “neighboring countries” even as its missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that the country would be “hit very hard.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian, part of the three-member leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a Feb. 28 airstrike that started the war, delivered the message a week into the conflict that has rattled global markets and left Iran’s leadership weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
Pezeshkian also dismissed Trump’s call for Iran to surrender unconditionally.
“That’s a dream that they should take to their grave,” he said.
Women hold Iranian flags and pictures of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as government supporters march against the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign after Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Shiite Muslims shout slogans as they burn effigies of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest against the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Budgam, northeast of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)Israeli soldiers work on tanks at a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)President Donald Trump gestures in the Cross Hall after speaking at an event to honor the 2025 Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami CF in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Palestinian Muslims offer Friday Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem, as the Old City remains closed to visitors under nationwide Home Front Command restrictions banning large gatherings amid the war with Iran, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)A family hugs after disembarking from an evacuation flight on a commercial airplane from Muscat, Oman, at the Henri Coanda International Airport in Otopeni, Romania, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)Iranians attend Friday prayers in the courtyard of the Imam Khomeini Grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Palestinian women offer Friday Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem, as the Old City remains closed to visitors under nationwide Home Front Command restrictions banning large gatherings amid the war with Iran, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)A transport aircraft takes off from the U.K.’s RAF Akrotiri air base near Limassol, Cyprus, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)A woman holds up a picture of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as government supporters march against the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign after Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)Plumes of smoke rise as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Friday night, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry, underlined the limited powers exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and other countries. It answered only to Khamenei and now appears to be picking its own targets.
