Live Updates: US-Israel war with Iran spreads as Iran

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, warned Tuesday of a threat of “imminent missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attacks” against the city of Dhahran in far eastern Saudi Arabia, and stressed that no Americans in the city should attempt to go to the U.S. consulate there.

“Take cover immediately in your residence, on the lowest available floor and away from windows. Do not go out,” the embassy said in its alert. “The U.S. Consulate in Dhahran urges U.S. citizens in Dhahran to shelter in place, review security plans in the event of an attack, and remain alert for additional future attacks. U.S. Consulate staff are sheltering in place.”

For the first time since the United States and Israel launched their joint attack on Iran over the weekend, one of Iran’s key nuclear sites was confirmed to have been bombed.

The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency issued a statement Tuesday saying that, “based on the latest available satellite images, the IAEA can now confirm some recent damage to the entrance buildings of Iran’s Natanz underground fuel enrichment plant (FEP). No radiological consequences are expected nor have any additional impacts been detected at the FEP itself, which was severely damaged in the June conflict.”

Natanz is one of three major Iranian nuclear sites that the United States attacked in its Operation Midnight Hammer in June of last year, which President Trump said had “erased Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.”

However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned about a week before the latest war began that “most of the material that Iran had accumulated by June of last year, despite the [U.S.] bombings and attacks, is still there, in large quantities, where it was at the time of the strikes.”

“Some of it may be less accessible, but the material is still there. From a nonproliferation standpoint, the material remains,” he said, citing the hundreds of pounds of enriched uranium still believed to be underground in Iran as a reason for the United States and Iran to urgently reach an “agreement that prevents further military action in the region.”

The State Department is urging Americans to leave 14 countries across the Middle East amid the ongoing war with iranwhich has caused the closure of the United States embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia was attacked by two drones, causing a small fire and limited damage, the Saudi Defense Ministry said on Monday. The embassy urged American citizens in Riyadh and the major commercial cities of Dhahran and Jeddah to shelter in place. He said it would be closed Tuesday.

The US embassy in Kuwait said it was closed until further notice “due to ongoing regional tensions” and that all consular appointments were cancelled. It was closed a day after smoke was seen rising from the mission following Iranian attacks on the country.

Americans were urged Monday night to “depart now” from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. They were urged to leave “using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks.”

The State Department also ordered all non-emergency U.S. government personnel and families of government personnel to leave Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Read more here.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman warned Tuesday that Iran’s attacks on the country “will not go unanswered, and today all options are open to Qatar.”

Majid Al-Ansari, in televised remarks, dismissed Iran’s reasoning for defending its retaliatory fire against Gulf Arab nations that Tehran views as supporting the joint U.S.-Israeli attack, saying the launch of Iranian missiles and drones against its neighbor could not be justified.

Al-Ansari highlighted that Qatar has constantly sought to avoid regional conflicts and at the same time facilitate dialogue between Iran and the international community. He expressed solidarity with other Gulf states and Jordan, which have been attacked by Iran since Saturday, and condemned the attacks as violations of their sovereignty.

“The attacks were directly aimed at Qatari interests and vital facilities within the country; the targeting was not limited to military or American interests, but also attacked Qatari territory,” he said, refuting claims by Iran’s foreign minister.

Al-Ansari highlighted Qatar’s right to self-defense under the United Nations Charter and said the small Gulf state was focused on defending its territory.

“This represents a flagrant violation of our national sovereignty, a direct threat to our security and territorial integrity, and an unacceptable escalation that threatens regional stability,” he said of Iran’s attacks. “We retain our full right to respond.”

Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday accused the United States and Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity for alleged attacks on hospitals and a girls’ school.

He said the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran was damaged in an attack “following the bombing of schools and the massacre of 171 innocent girls in the city of #Minab.”

On Monday, the World Health Organization said it understood that “patients were moved due to nearby explosions that caused collateral damage to the hospital,” Reuters reported. The WHO also said it was working to verify reports from three other affected medical centers.

Witnesses told Reuters on Sunday that Gandhi Hospital was hit by Israeli strikes.

Baqaei said the alleged attacks on civilian infrastructure occurred “despite the aggressors’ claims to possess the most advanced military equipment and precision systems. The deliberate attacks and destruction of civilian infrastructure, medical facilities, schools and media institutions by the United States and Israel, with the aim of paralyzing civilian life, constitute flagrant war crimes and crimes against humanity. No responsible state can remain silent in the face of these atrocities,” Baqaei said.

News themezone on Tuesday again asked the Israeli and US militaries for any comment on the attack that allegedly He hit the school in Minab.. The IDF did not respond and the US military’s Central Command told News themezone it had no statement to share about the reports.

Six Persian Gulf nations appear to be on the verge of ending their neutrality in the US-Israeli war against Iran, after accusing Tehran of “reckless and indiscriminate attacks” against their territories.

The Gulf Cooperation Council said on Sunday it maintained the “option to respond to Iranian attacks” to protect security in the region. It was just one sign of a possible major escalation in the conflict sparked Saturday by the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said the US embassy in Riyadh suffered “minor material damage” after being hit by two Iranian drones. This came a day after an Iranian attack targeted Saudi Arabia’s vast oil refinery at Ras Tanura, the country’s largest such facility and one of the largest in the world.

Iran has shocked the region by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at all Persian Gulf states, attacking luxury hotels in Dubai and Bahrain, residential areas in Doha, Qatar, military sites and energy infrastructure in Kuwait, and vital seaports and waterways in Oman.

All of these nations host major US military bases, so by default they are in the US camp in Iran’s view. Iran’s Foreign Minister has repeatedly said that the Islamic Republic’s fight is not against its neighbors, but against American military assets that they welcome.

Tehran’s goal in launching missiles and drones has likely been to pressure the Gulf monarchies to pressure their allies in Washington to end the war, but Iran’s calculation appears to backfire.

After Qatar’s air force fired two Iranian bombers out of the sky for the first time, there was a clear risk that other countries would decide to join a war that threatened to spread rapidly across the long-peaceful Gulf region of the Middle East.

Before the United States launched its joint attack on Iran, in close coordination with Israel, President Trump had expressed frustration over progress in what were ongoing talks over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

On Monday, Trump articulated the reasons why he had decided, despite ongoing diplomacy, to order US strikes against Iran, sparking what he said could well be a weeks-long war.

In his first live public comments on the operation, he offered four central reasons for the campaign:

• Destroy Iran’s missile capabilities;
• Annihilate Iran’s navy;
• Prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons;
• Ensure that the regime cannot continue arming, financing or directing “terrorist armies” outside its borders.

A senior administration official said the operation would continue until all four objectives were achieved. Click here to read more about Iranian capabilities and alleged ambitions, which Trump said had made this war a “last best chance” to confront what he claimed was an imminent threat to American security.

Israel’s military warned people in at least 80 cities, towns and villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate and not return on Tuesday, while announcing that troops had been sent across the border into the neighboring country “to create an additional layer of protection.” for our cities.

“The forces have begun an operation to reinforce the defense line of the northern communities. As part of this, we evacuated the Lebanese population for their own safety. We have deployed forces across the border, maintaining several strategic points along the border,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that they had “achieved operational control in the area, with fighters prepared to act against any threat.”

Israel has battered the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon for years, and with the US-designated terrorist group joining Iran’s retaliatory attacks against perceived Israeli and US interests across the region in recent days, Israel had indicated that a new ground operation could be coming.

“We continue to attack Hezbollah’s centers of gravity in Beirut. Overnight, we completed a wave of attacks against Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters,” the IDF said Tuesday, adding that “ongoing activity, in cooperation with the United States, will continue to deepen the damage, eliminate launchers and reduce their numbers as part of the operation’s objectives.”

The Israel Defense Forces warned Tuesday morning of a new Iranian missile launch and urged people to obey orders from the country’s Home Front Command to seek shelter.

“Defense systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the IDF said, repeating warnings that have been issued several times a day since the United States and Israel launched their devastating attacks on Iran on Saturday morning.

Red alert sirens were reportedly blaring in central Israel, including the capital Tel Aviv, and there were unconfirmed reports of at least one impact, but the country’s MDA emergency medical service said no immediate casualties were confirmed.

The MDA said crews were treating two wounded people “en route to a protected area,” but did not indicate that the injuries were serious or the result of Iranian fire.

The U.S. and Israeli military’s assessment as of Monday was that they had destroyed about half of the roughly 500 missile launchers Iran had before the U.S. “Midnight Hammer” attacks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities in June. They estimate Iran could still have around 250, but believe that by the end of the week, 70 to 80% of the country’s launchers will likely have been destroyed.

The last of Iran’s missile launchers may be harder to reach because many of them are underground.

The assessment was that there were noticeably fewer ballistic missile strikes on Monday due to Iran’s declining launch capacity, but it was also likely that the country is trying to ration its stockpile, given President Trump’s comments that the war could last five weeks or more.

America’s allies in the Persian Gulf have faced major bombardment by Iran since the start of the US-Israel war against the Islamic Republic on Saturday.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said it had successfully intercepted 90 ballistic missiles, 24 drones, three cruise missiles and two Su-24 fighter jets as of Monday.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Monday that it had detected 178 ballistic missiles and 384 drones since the start of the war, according to the country’s official news agency. Some 27 members of the Kuwaiti army were injured, the ministry said.

Six American soldiers have been murdered and 18 seriously wounded in the US military’s Operation Epic Fury as of Tuesday morning, according to US Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia was attacked by two drones, the Saudi Defense Ministry said in X, causing what the ministry described as a small fire and limited damage.

The apparent drone attack on Riyadh, the Saudi capital, came as several US allies in the Gulf region face days of retaliatory strikes by Iranian drones and missiles, following US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The embassy has urged American citizens in Riyadh and the major commercial cities of Dhahran and Jeddah to shelter in place. He said it would be closed Tuesday.

In an interview Monday night, President Trump said “they’re going to find out very soon” when asked who controls Iran now.

Speaking to NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer, the president also reacted to the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saying “you’ll know soon” when asked about retaliation for that attack.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait said Tuesday it was closed until further notice, a day after smoke was seen billowing from the mission following Iranian attacks on the country.

“Due to ongoing regional tensions, the United States Embassy in Kuwait will remain closed until further notice. We have canceled all regular and emergency consular appointments,” the embassy said in a statement on X.

President Trump said Monday night on Truth Social: “America’s munitions stockpile, at medium and upper grade, has never been higher or better,” and that the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using only these supplies.”

“At the high end, we have good supply, but we are not where we want to be. A lot of additional high-quality weapons are stored for us in peripheral countries,” Trump added.

Trump has predicted that the war in Iran could last at least five weeks and has not ruled out the possibility of deploying US troops to Iran.

State Department evacuations of non-emergency personnel and family members reached six countries on Tuesday, including the United Arab Emirates.

The other nations where this is happening are Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and long considered a safe corner of the Middle East, has been drawn into war with Iran with attacks on its territory and missile interceptions.

Additionally, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has advised Americans there on what he calls “VERY LIMITED” options for leaving, primarily by bus to Egypt, using his X account, saying: “We are receiving many requests regarding evacuation from Israel from US citizens who are currently in Israel or who have family here.”

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President Trump on Monday submitted a War Powers Resolution notification to Congress regarding the February 28 military strikes against the government of Iran.

“Despite my administration’s repeated efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior, the threat to the United States and its allies and partners has become unsustainable,” Trump wrote to Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley in the March 2 letter, obtained by News themezone.

Trump writes that “under my direction,” U.S. forces conducted precision strikes against “numerous targets inside Iran,” including ballistic missile sites, maritime mining capabilities, air defenses, and command and control capabilities. The attacks, he writes, were carried out to protect US forces in the region, protect the homeland, ensure the free flow of maritime commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, and act in collective self-defense of US allies, including Israel.

The president claims that no U.S. ground forces were used and that the mission was designed to minimize civilian casualties, deter future attacks and neutralize Iran’s malign activities.

He acknowledges in the letter that “it is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of any military operations that may be necessary,” and adds that US forces remain ready to take further action as necessary.

The president wrote that he directed the action in accordance with his constitutional authority as commander in chief and will submit the report in accordance with the War Powers Resolution.

President Trump reiterated in remarks at the White House on Monday that the United States is “substantially ahead” in its timeline for the operation in Iran, but added that the military was prepared for a longer campaign.

“We will do whatever it takes, we always will, and we have done it from the beginning, we project four to five weeks, but we have the capacity to last much longer,” he said. “We will.”

Trump also rejected a claim from an unidentified person. The president said the person claimed that he would soon get bored of the military operation.

“I’m not bored. There’s nothing boring about this,” Trump said.