Paris (France) (AFP) – Israel traded fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday and pressed its attacks on Iran as the fallout from two days of US-Israeli strikes widened, with Iranian counterattacks hitting Gulf states and a British base in Cyprus. US President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of US service members and said the war with Iran could last for weeks.
Here are the latest developments:
– **Israel strikes Tehran**
The Israeli military said on Monday it had begun a new “broad strike” in the “heart of Tehran” after generals vowed to step up attacks on “key elements of the regime.” Loud explosions were heard in several parts of the Iranian capital, AFP journalists said, shaking apartment buildings in the centre. Iran’s president appointed Revolutionary Guards general Majid Ebnelreza as acting defence minister after his predecessor was killed in Israeli-US strikes.
– **Hezbollah fighting**
The Israeli military said it was simultaneously attacking the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and claimed to have killed a “senior Hezbollah terrorist” in Beirut, though the army said there was no reason for a ground invasion yet. The Lebanese government has imposed an “immediate ban” on Hezbollah’s military and security activities and called for it to hand over its weapons to the state, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced.
– **Iran retaliates**
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched missile strikes on Israeli targets, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and other sites in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and east Jerusalem, calling it a “10th wave” of attacks. A series of new explosions were heard above Jerusalem on Monday, AFP journalists reported.
– **Gulf states targeted**
Iran also hit targets across the Gulf, with the army saying it had launched 15 cruise missiles in strikes on a US air base in Kuwait and vessels in the Indian Ocean. QatarEnergy was forced to halt LNG production after a processing base and a power plant were hit; one person was killed as an oil tanker was targeted off Oman, and British officials said a vessel in a Bahrain port had been struck by “unknown projectiles.” The US embassy in Kuwait, where black smoke could be seen, said in a statement that people should not come to the diplomatic mission: “Take cover in your residence on the lowest available floor and away from windows. Do not go outside.”
– **Iranian deaths**
The Iranian Red Crescent said Monday that “131 cities have been affected” by US-Israeli strikes “and, regrettably, 555 of our compatriots have been killed.” Iranian officials confirmed the killings of three Guards members and five army personnel.
– **Trump vows vengeance**
US President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of three US soldiers killed during operations against Iran, while warning that more casualties were likely. The US leader also called on Iranians to rise up, saying: “America is with you.” He warned the country’s Revolutionary Guards to surrender or face “certain death.”
– **War could last ‘four weeks’**
Trump said he envisaged a four-week military operation against Iran, where US and Israeli strikes have killed the country’s supreme leader and crippled its defence capabilities. “It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so,” he told British newspaper the Daily Mail during a round of interviews.
– **UNESCO site ‘damaged’**
Iran’s UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace in Tehran has been damaged in US and Israeli strikes, local media reported. “Following the joint US-Israeli attack on Arag square in southern Tehran on Sunday evening, parts of the Golestan Palace…were damaged,” the ISNA news agency reported, adding that windows, doors, and mirrors were hit by reverberations from blasts.
– **Nuclear sites undamaged**
UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi on Monday said his agency had “no indication” that any nuclear installations in Iran had been damaged or hit in the US-Israeli strikes.
– **Drone hits Cyprus base**
At least one drone crashed into Britain’s RAF Akrotiri military base in Cyprus in the early hours of Monday and another two were intercepted, prompting an evacuation of the facility. While Greece said it was sending two frigates and two F-16 jets to Cyprus, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was “firmly and unequivocally” behind member states following the drone hit.
– **UK-US spat**
Britain had agreed on Sunday to allow the US to use British military bases to fire “defensive” strikes at Iranian missile systems after initially refusing — but this was not enough for Trump, who took aim at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a newspaper interview. “It took far too much time. Far too much time,” Trump told the Daily Telegraph, adding he was “very disappointed” with the initial refusal.
– **Saudi attack**
Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said some operations at its massive Ras Tanura refinery on the Gulf coast had been halted on Monday following an attack that caused a fire at the complex.
– **US warplanes shot down**
Three American warplanes crashed in Kuwait on Monday morning but their crew survived, with US officials later saying Kuwaiti air defence had “mistakenly shot down” US warplanes.
– **China urges truce**
China called on Monday for a ceasefire and diplomatic talks to end the conflict in the Middle East, as officials in Beijing confirmed one citizen had been killed in Iran. “The most urgent task is a cessation of military operations and preventing a spillover of conflict,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a news conference.
– **Gas price surge**
European gas prices soared more than 30 percent Monday on fears that the conflict will cut supplies in the Gulf region. Concerns were especially focused on Qatar, whose QatarEnergy halted liquefied natural gas output.
– **Iran says no US negotiation**
Iran “will not negotiate with the United States,” Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council said, denying media reports that Iranian officials had sought to initiate talks. He said Trump’s “delusional fantasies” had plunged the region into chaos.
– **US officials to make case for war**
Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran. Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and military chief Dan Caine “will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress,” White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.
– **Maersk suspends Hormuz transit**
Container shipping company Maersk said it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz for “safety” reasons. The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reportedly declared the strait closed on Saturday.
– **Revolutionary Guards HQ ‘destroyed’**
The US military announced it had destroyed the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) headquarters, with the US Central Command saying: “America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters.”
© 2024 AFP
