Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday that "enemies" had misinterpreted his earlier comments suggesting Tehran would halt attacks on neighboring countries, insisting the Islamic Republic has no quarrel with regional states even as missile and drone strikes persisted across the Gulf.

Speaking in Tehran, Pezeshkian said his remarks a day earlier – in which he apologized to neighboring countries affected by the conflict – had been distorted to sow division between Iran and its regional neighbors. He stressed that Tehran maintains "good and brotherly" relations with neighboring states but would respond if attacks on Iran were launched from their territory.

"If the United States or Israel launch attacks on Iran from the territory of other states, Iran would inevitably respond," he said, adding that such actions should not be interpreted as hostility toward those countries or their people.

His clarification came as Gulf states reported new missile and drone attacks on Sunday – the eighth day of a war triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, which prompted Tehran's retaliatory strikes across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted 15 drones that entered its airspace, including several east of the capital Riyadh. Qatar said it had been targeted the previous day by 10 ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles launched from Iran, most of which were intercepted without casualties.

Kuwait's military said it had responded to a wave of hostile drones entering its airspace, while authorities reported that fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport were targeted. Some civilian facilities suffered material damage from falling debris during interception operations, it said in a separate statement.

Bahrain also reported damage to a water desalination plant following a drone strike, and said several people were injured in a separate incident involving missile debris.

The attacks followed Pezeshkian's earlier statement apologizing to Gulf countries and saying they would no longer be targeted unless attacks against Iran were launched from their territory. However, other senior Iranian officials offered contrasting rhetoric.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Saturday that evidence suggested some regional territories were being used, openly or covertly, by Iran's enemies. He said attacks on such targets would continue as part of a strategy agreed upon across the government and other state institutions.

Ejei's remarks, which came shortly after Pezeshkian's apologies to Iran's neighbors, signaled a potential rift within the Iranian leadership. The two men, along with Guardian Council member Alireza Arafi, form the interim leadership council established to manage state affairs until a successor to Ali Khamenei is chosen.

Ahmad Alamolhoda, a senior Iranian cleric and member of the Assembly of Experts, said on Sunday that the vote on Iran's next supreme leader has already taken place and a successor has been chosen. Possible contenders include Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, Ejei, Ali Larijani, the top national security official, and senior clerics like Arafi and Mohsen Araki.

Earlier reports said Iran's hardline factions had pushed for Mojtaba to fill the vacancy, but US and Israeli strikes and divisions within the clerical establishment have stalled a final decision by the Assembly of Experts. However, Alamolhoda said reports suggesting the Assembly had not yet reached a decision were "completely false," adding that under the constitution, no one has the right to change that decision.

He said the matter now rests with Hosseini Bushehri, the official responsible for the Assembly's secretariat, who he said is tasked with conveying and publicly announcing the clerical body's decision.