Tehran: Iran’s hardline judiciary chief said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic would continue targeting regional neighbours offering its enemies “points… used in aggression against our country”.

“Evidence from Iran’s armed forces shows that the geography of some countries in the region is openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy,” said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei.

“The government and other pillars of the system are in agreement that heavy attacks on these targets will continue,” he added.

Ejei is a member of the interim leadership council installed after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes that opened the fighting on February 28.

Iran has repeatedly targeted its Gulf neighbours in response to the aerial offensive, with some strikes aimed at civilian infrastructure — although Tehran maintains that it only attacks US assets or bases.

A total of 13 people, including seven civilians, have been killed in Gulf countries since the war broke out.

One victim, an 11-year-old girl, died in Kuwait after being struck by debris in a residential neighbourhood.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had earlier on Saturday apologised for Iran’s attacks on its neighbours, promising restraint unless their territory was used to strike Iran.

The Gulf countries have said their territory has not been used in attacks against Iran, and even before the war began they had repeatedly stated they would not allow such attacks on their neighbour.

Nevertheless, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that “as long as American bases exist in the region, countries will not see peace”.

“All officials and people are united on this principle,” he added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian dismissed US President Donald Trump's demand for the Islamic Republic's unconditional surrender as "a dream", but said its temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.

Trump nonetheless cast Iran's apology as a surrender, while saying the country would be "hit very hard" on Saturday and warned the US could widen its attacks to areas and groups of people that were not previously designated targets.

Israel warns Lebanon to rein in Hezbollah
With the conflict spreading, Israel warned Lebanon of a "very heavy price" if it did not rein in Hezbollah, as it pounded the group's strongholds with airstrikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east.

On Saturday morning, more buildings in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut had been reduced to mounds of smoking rubble, dust and tangled wires, Reuters video showed, with a toddler's toy car lying on its side.

Heavy Israeli bombardment had followed an evacuation order for civilians. The total death toll from Israel's attacks on Lebanon since Monday has risen to 294, the health ministry said.

The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani. Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel, and at least six US service members have been killed.