Dubai: Iran expanded its targets Tuesday, striking the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull many staff out of the Middle East. The US and Israel battered Iran with airstrikes in what President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a war that has severely disrupted the world’s supply of oil and gas, international shipping, and air travel.
The conflict escalated further on its fourth day, with Israel sending new ground troops into Lebanon and explosions ringing out in Iran’s capital. Hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran.
The spiralling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end. Trump said it could last four to five weeks – but that the US was prepared to go longer. He seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive US military involvement, telling the New York Post Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.
Still, the administration’s objectives remain unclear. The initial US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government.
Since then, however, senior administration officials have said regime change was not the goal. Trump’s initial announcement of the strikes listed several grievances, from concerns about Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes to its leadership.
Iran hits the US Embassy in Riyadh, and Washington pulls out staff
An attack from two drones on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” according to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the US Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice.
The US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the US has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed, many remained stranded.
The US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. In Israel, where Iranian missiles struck several locations, 11 people were killed. The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 52 people in Lebanon.
The US military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Israel and the US target nuclear facilities in Iran
Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead. Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no one was injured.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage,” though there was “no radiological consequence expected.”
The US hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s nuclear programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.
“We had to take the action now, and we did,” Netanyahu told Fox News Channel’s Hannity.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two Iranian nuclear sites before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
It’s not clear how long the war will last
The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, Khamenei’s killing and the lack of any apparent exit plan suggested the conflict could be prolonged.
Trump said Monday that operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added that the US had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions.
“Wars can be fought forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote on social media.
The conflict is roiling business interests in the Mideast
Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes. Recent targets included two Amazon data centres in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. The centres in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near one in Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.
Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowed that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered.”
Israel sends troops into Lebanon
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.
The Israeli military said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions on several strategic points close to the border.
Israel also hit Beirut with more airstrikes, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centres and weapons storage facilities.” Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut.
