DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥� Iran in an escalating campaign that U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday would likely take . Tehran and its allies retaliated across the region, striking Israel and a variety of targets inside Gulf states, including energy facilities in Qatar and the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia.
The intensity of the attacks, the and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Places deemed like Dubai have seen incoming fire; energy prices ; and U.S. allies stop Iranian missiles and drones.
Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared 鈥渢o go far longer than that.鈥�
As the conflict spiraled, the State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks.
鈥淭he hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,鈥� Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before briefing members of Congress about the Iran operation.
Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran鈥檚 missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.
, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
As several airstrikes hit Iran鈥檚 capital, Tehran, the top security official Ali Larijani vowed on X: 鈥淲e will not negotiate with the United States.鈥�
Iran expands attacks across the region
World markets were across a region vital to energy supplies.
Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh came under attack from two drones, causing a 鈥渓imited fire鈥� and minor damage. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait was struck.
Saudi Arabia鈥檚 Ras Tanura oil refinery also came under attack from drones, but its defenses downed the aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The refinery has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.
The refinery attack “marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran鈥檚 sights,鈥� said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
After two of its facilities were struck, QatarEnergy said it would stop producing liquefied natural gas indefinitely, taking one of the world鈥檚 top suppliers off the market. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response.
Several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which and where Iran has threatened attacks.
Iran says nuclear site was targeted
Reza Najafi, Iran鈥檚 ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site Sunday.
鈥淭heir justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,鈥� he said.
Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was rebuilding 鈥渘ew sites, new places鈥� underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox 草莓传媒 Channel鈥檚 Hannity.
鈥淲e had to take the action now and we did,鈥� said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
The death toll grew on all sides
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. Israel鈥檚 retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed dozens of people in Lebanon.
The U.S. military announced that two previously unaccounted for American service members have been confirmed dead, bringing the total to six. All six were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran鈥檚 top diplomat on Monday shared an aerial photo showing rows of graves that he said were for more than 160 girls killed during a U.S.-Israeli strike on an elementary school in Minab. 鈥淭heir bodies were torn to shreds,鈥� Abbas Araghchi, the country鈥檚 foreign minister, said on X.
In Israel, three young siblings killed by an Iranian strike were being laid to rest at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Monday night.
The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.
Hezbollah fires on Israel, prompting massive response
Hezbollah said it fired missiles on Israel on Monday, the first time in more than a year the militant group has claimed an attack. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country’s Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.
An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel is keeping 鈥渁ll options on the table,鈥� including a potential .
The Israeli military said it launched strikes targeting branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, a charity operating outside the Lebanese financial system that Israel says is used to fund Hezbollah’s military wing.
Israel also struck a building housing Al-Manar channel studios in Beirut鈥檚 southern suburbs following an evacuation warning, the channel said. No details on casualties were available.
No end in sight to the US-Israeli campaign
The U.S. military, which has used to strike Iran鈥檚 ballistic missile facilities, said Monday that it had taken out 11 Iranian warships. Trump has said the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been 鈥渓argely destroyed.鈥�
While Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., said the conflict would continue 鈥渁s long as it takes,鈥� Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday that the U.S. is not engaged in a nation-building effort, saying, 鈥淭his is not Iraq. This is not endless.”
Trump sought to more clearly define the administration’s objectives on Monday following an earlier statement 鈥� as the attack was unfolding Saturday 鈥� in which he listed various grievances dating to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and urged Iranians to 鈥渢ake over鈥� their government.
There have been no signs yet of any such uprising.
Trump has also signaled an openness to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership, .
Tehran’s streets are deserted
Tehran鈥檚 streets have been largely deserted with people sheltering during airstrikes. force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, set up checkpoints across the city, witnesses said.
In the northern Iranian city of Babol, a student, speaking anonymously over concerns of retribution, told the AP that armed riot police were on the streets Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday after the death of Khamenei.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know whether to be happy about the elimination of the criminals who oppress us or to remain silent in the face of the U.S. and Israel鈥檚 war against the country and its interests and the terror that is taking place,鈥� he said.
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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Farnoush Amiri in New York, Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, and Konstantin Toropin, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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