Iran attacks Kuwait electricity, desalination plant; Easter masses cancelled in Dubai
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Kuwait City: A Kuwaiti power and desalination complex was damaged by an attack from Iran on Friday, the electricity and water ministry said.
"One of the power generation and water desalination stations was subjected to an attack this dawn by the sinful Iranian aggression, resulting in material damage," a ministry spokesperson said, according to the official Kuwait News Agency.
An AFP correspondent in Kuwait City said there had been no disruption to power or water services. Israel said on Friday it was under attack from a new barrage of Iranian missiles, as US President Donald Trump warned Washington had yet to begin "destroying what's left" of Iran's infrastructure.
Amid the war, all masses in Dubai have been cancelled. Two Catholic churches in the United Arab Emirates announced the news on their websites on Friday, just ahead of Easter.
Following government directives, "all Masses at our Church are cancelled until further notice," St Francis of Assisi Church at Jebel Ali in Dubai posted.
The Jebel Ali coastal area has been hit several times by missiles and drones fired by Iran at neighbouring Gulf states in retaliation for the Israeli-US offensive launched on February 28.
"Parishioners are requested to refrain from visiting the Church premises, in the interest of safety and community well-being," the announcement added.
St Mary's Catholic Church in Dubai published a similar announcement on its website, saying Good Friday's mass would be live-streamed on the church's YouTube channel instead.
The war started more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.
Strikes from both sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict's impact beyond the battlefield.
Israel's military reported a new missile salvo from Iran on Friday, with its air defences activated to down them. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israeli emergency services reported some damage to houses and cars from an unintercepted cluster missile, while Israeli military radio said a train station in Tel Aviv was damaged by shrapnel.
The Iranian fire came as Trump said the US military "hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" on his Truth Social platform, after saying Iran's tallest bridge had been destroyed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted that "striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender".
Ex-FM urges peace deal
Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran's former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.
"Iran should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one," wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister from 2013 to 2021.
Iran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, where in peacetime one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passes through. As a result, fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide.
Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that in response to Trump's threats to attack infrastructure, Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region, calling on "countries hosting US military bases" to "force the Americans to leave their countries".
A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait's national oil company on Friday sparked fires at several of its units, state media said.
In Abu Dhabi, a gas complex shut after a fire broke out, the government said.
"Authorities are responding to an incident of falling debris at the Habshan gas facilities, following successful interception by air defence systems," the emirate's media office said on X.
In Dubai, the emirate's two Catholic churches said ahead of Easter weekend that masses would be cancelled until further notice due to safety concerns.