Iran says can fight for months as Israel strikes Beirut hotel

Tehran (AFP) – Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the country's forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel, which said it struck Tehran's commanders at a seaside hotel in the heart of Beirut.

Tehran accused the US and Israel of striking an oil depot in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the first reported assault on the Islamic republic's oil infrastructure as stock markets have slumped and crude prices surged.

The Israeli military said it struck "a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran" that were used "to operate military infrastructure".

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Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the Islamic republic's forces could wage an "intense war" for six months at the current speed of fighting.

Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used "first and second generation" missiles, but will use "advanced and less-used long-range missiles" in the coming days.

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Iran's security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.

"Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela -- they would strike, take control and it would be over -- but now they are trapped," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.

Iran's hardline judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei also warned Middle East neighbours which are "openly and covertly at the disposal of the enemy" that "the heavy attacks on these targets will continue".

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that Tehran "will be forced to respond" if a neighbouring country were to be used as a launchpad for any attack or invasion attempt.

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Iran's health ministry said Friday at least 926 civilians had been killed and around 6,000 wounded -- figures AFP could not independently verify.

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Analysts warn there is still no clear path to ending a conflict that US and Israeli officials say could last a month or longer.

Trump has suggested Iran's economy could be rebuilt if a leader "acceptable" to Washington replaces the late supreme leader, which Tehran has rejected.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday that the war in the Middle East should "never have happened".

"This is a war that should never have happened," he told a press conference in Beijing, adding that "a strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle."