Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai's famed man-made island The Palm, as Iran carried out retaliatory strikes in the Gulf following U.S. and Israeli attacks.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah called on Saturday for the Middle East to stand against Israel and the United States' attack on Iran.

The death toll from an attack Saturday on a school in Iran's south has risen to 85, the judiciary said, after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on the Islamic republic.

"The number of martyrs at the girls' school in Minab has increased to 85," the judiciary's Mizan Online website quoted the area's prosecutor's office as saying.

In a post on X, United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert urged "all parties in Lebanon" to "prioritize, in words and actions, the need to shield the country and its people from unfolding regional developments".

The remarks come after Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran.

Iraq's powerful pro-Iran group Kataeb Hezbollah warned Saturday it will start imminent attacks on U.S. bases after air strikes hit an Iraqi military base housing the group.

"We will soon begin attacking American bases in response to their aggression," the group said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia condemned Iranian attacks targeting its neighbors in a statement released by the kingdom’s official press agency Saturday, following a flurry of salvos across the Middle East as Israel and the U.S. bombed Iran.

"The kingdom strongly condemns and denounces in the strongest terms the brutal Iranian aggression and the blatant violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," said the statement.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Saturday that Lebanon refuses to be dragged into war, after Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iran.

Authorities fear Iran-backed Hezbollah could become involved in the conflict, which saw the U.S. and Israel bomb Iran on Saturday and Tehran respond with missile attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced a major attack against Iran, vowing to "annihilate" its navy and missile sites and telling Iranians their "hour of freedom" had come from the Islamic republic.

In a video address after the United States and Israel started bombing Iran, Trump made clear that the goal was sweeping –- the toppling of the Islamic republic in charge since the 1979 revolution.

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday, with Israel's public broadcaster reporting that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been targeted, as the Islamic republic retaliated with barrages of missiles at Gulf states and Israel.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic, said they had targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, other American interests in the Gulf and Israel.

Real Madrid and Manchester City will face off in a Champions League knockout tie for the fifth season running after being drawn Friday to play each other in the last 16, while reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain will take on Chelsea.

The Spanish giants, record 15-time European champions, will host City in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu next month before travelling to England for the return the following week.