Iran struck the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia on Thursday as Washington began to drag many staff out of the Middle East amid the escalating war.
The U.S. and Israel battered Iran with airstrikes in what President Donald Trump suggested was just the beginning 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 recent ground troops into Lebanon and explosions ringing out in Iran’s capital. Tons of of individuals have been killed, the overwhelming majority in Iran.
The spiraling nature of the war raised questions on when and the way it could end.
Trump said it could last 4 to 5 weeks — but that the U.S. was prepared to go longer. He appeared to leave open the likelihood for more extensive U.S. military involvement, telling the Latest York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the likelihood of trainers on the bottom.
Still, the administration’s objectives remain unclear. The initial U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government.
Since then, nonetheless, 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 programs to its leadership.
Iran hits the US embassy in Riyadh
An attack from two drones on the U.S. embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” in response to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.
It followed an attack on the U.S. embassy in Kuwait that announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice.
The U.S. State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
As well as, the U.S. has urged residents to go away greater than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded.
The U.S.-Israeli strikes have killed at the least 787 people, in response 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.
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The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. Three people were killed within the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Israel and US goal 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 nobody 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 U.S. hit Natanz through the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, nonetheless, that Iran was rebuilding “recent sites, recent places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.
“We needed to take the motion 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 program is peaceful.
Satellite photos analyzed 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 shortage of any apparent exit plan suggested the conflict may very well be prolonged.
Trump said Monday that operations are prone to last 4 to 5 weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added the U.S. had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions.
“Wars will be fought ‘eternally,’ and really successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote on social media.
The conflict is roiling business interests within the Mideast
Iran has hit many countries deemed secure havens within the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli strikes. Recent targets included two Amazon data centers within the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. The centers within the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one Bahrain, causing damage, the corporate said.
Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships 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, vowing that any ships that passed through it could be set on fire.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country “won’t go unanswered.”
Israel sends troops into Lebanon
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and brought recent positions on several strategic points near the border.
Israel also hit Beirut with more airstrikes, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.” Explosions may very well be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating a few of its border positions. A senior Hezbollah official, Mohamoud Komati, said the group now had no option but to fight Israel.