Iran conflict with Israel and US LIVE: The Middle East appears to be teetering amid increasing incidents of missile and drone attacks in the region. Escalating attacks and missile exchanges since the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have deepened the Iran-US-Israel conflict.
Tehran and its allies launched retaliatory attacks on Gulf states and Israel as they vowed to retaliate. The latest series of attacks targeted sites in the region that bear the US stamp, such as military bases and diplomatic facilities throughout the Middle East. Iran called the recent escalation “Operation Truthful Promise 4” in response to the United States’ “Operation Epic Fury” and Israel’s “Operation Roaring Lion”. As the crossfire continues, the spillover effect of the war can be seen in the Middle East. The immediate impact of the war was a sudden increase in oil prices.
The American embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the last to be set on fire. After the reported incursion of two Iranian drones, a massive explosion rocked the campus. The Saudi Ministry of Defense confirmed the report, saying the drone strike caused limited fire and minor material damage to the building. This incident occurred a day after the US Embassy in Kuwait City was hit.
With no clear timetable for the end of the conflict, US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the operations would likely last four to five weeks, but that he was prepared to “go much longer”. In an interview with NewsNation, Trump warned Iran against more aggressive counterstrikes, saying, “You’re going to find out soon what the retaliation will be,” referring to both the embassy strike and the deaths of US military personnel in the ongoing confrontation with Iran.
As US allies pledged to help stop Iran’s missiles and drones, Tehran’s top security official Ali Larijani promised X: “We will not negotiate with the United States. Tehran has officially blocked the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to disrupt 20% of global oil supplies.”
Number of dead
According to an AP report, nearly 11 people have been killed in the conflict in Israel, and 6 US service members have been confirmed dead.
More than 555 people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli attack began on February 28, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said. Iran’s top diplomat shared a photo on Monday and said more than 160 girls were killed in a US-Israeli strike on an elementary school in Minab.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a joint US-Israeli strike in Iran has killed nearly 85 civilians and 11 soldiers in the past 24 hours. The total number of civilian casualties rose to at least 742, the Washington DC-based group said, including 176 children.
Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 52 were killed and 154 wounded in overnight Israeli retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah in the suburbs of Beirut and the country’s southern region.
