Days after the US and Israel first launched strikes towards Iran, the conflict is widening by the hour, drawing in different international locations throughout the area, sparking fears for the international financial system and leaving 1000’s of vacationers stranded.
By Monday, retaliatory strikes launched from Iran shattered any sense of safety its Gulf neighbors have loved, killing not less than 17 individuals, together with three US service members, throughout the area and in Israel.
Three US army plane crashed in Kuwait on Monday, “due to an apparent friendly fire incident,” the US army mentioned, including that each one six aircrew ejected and are “in stable condition.” US President Donald Trump mentioned Sunday that his conflict with Iran may final “four weeks or so,” providing the clearest indication but of how lengthy the administration anticipates the army marketing campaign may proceed.
Meanwhile, Israel launched a wave of strikes towards Lebanon, responding to a Hezbollah provocation early Monday. The strikes killed not less than 31 individuals, Lebanese authorities mentioned, and opened up one other entrance in the conflict.
Joint US-Israeli strikes have killed not less than 555 individuals in Iran, based on the Iranian Red Crescent, together with not less than 165 individuals at a women’ elementary faculty, the nation’s state media reported.
Those strikes additionally killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, marking a turning level in the nation’s historical past and leaving Iranians confronting a surreal combination of relief, disbelief and anxiety.
Here’s what we know thus far.
As the war expands, nonetheless unbounded by the obscure aims the Trump administration has laid out, new fronts are opening up.
Hezbollah fired six projectiles at an Israeli military base south of Haifa “in revenge” for Khamenei’s dying in the early hours of Monday morning, prompting a livid wave of strikes from Israel in Beirut and southern Lebanon. That marked one among the most important engagements between the two teams since a fragile ceasefire went into impact in November 2024, and Israel has not dominated out additional motion. An Israeli army spokesman mentioned “all operations remain on the table” when requested about the potential for a floor operation.
In Kuwait, in the meantime, three US jets have been mistakenly shot down by the Gulf nation’s air defenses, US Central Command (CENTCOM) mentioned, including the reason behind the incident is underneath investigation. Videos geolocated by NCS confirmed a fighter jet crashing and a pilot parachuting to the floor.
NCS groups in the main Gulf cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha heard explosions Monday morning and noticed what seemed to be missiles being intercepted in the skies above them.
Iran fired a brand new barrage of missiles towards Israel on Monday, Israel’s army mentioned.
In Iran, a number of rounds of explosions have been reported in Tehran, whereas sufferers have been evacuated from a hospital in the north of the metropolis on Sunday after it was badly broken, based on Iranian state media.
Three US service members had been killed in motion as of Sunday morning and 5 have been “seriously wounded,” CENTCOM mentioned.
Why did the US and Israel assault?
Both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned their predominant aims have been to defend their respective international locations from threats posed by Iran and, most notably, to forestall the Islamic regime from buying a nuclear weapon, with out offering any proof that it was any nearer to acquiring one.
The White House had beforehand claimed to have “totally” obliterated that risk when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war towards Iran in June, a marketing campaign which left the regime severely weakened.
Since the flip of the yr, Iran has additionally been battling an financial disaster that sparked nationwide protests. As a crackdown left thousands of protesters dead, Trump promised to return to their help, saying the US was “locked and loaded.”
For weeks, there had been an odd split-screen: whereas US envoys held common talks with Iran over a brand new nuclear deal, the Trump administration was amassing army materiel in the Middle East. Although the final spherical of talks ended Thursday with Iran agreeing to “never” stockpile enriched uranium, that was not sufficient to avert US army motion.
Israeli and American intelligence businesses — together with the CIA — had been monitoring Khamenei’s movements for months, ready for the proper second to strike.
Inside Iran, the regime is battered, bereft of its supreme chief Khamenei, however nonetheless stays capable of launch assaults throughout the area.
Under Iran’s structure, a three-person management council holds energy till the new supreme chief is known as. It consists of the average president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the hard-line head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and a senior cleric, Alireza Arafi.
It stays unclear how lengthy the course of of selecting Khamenei’s successor will take, a matter additional difficult by the deaths of a number of different senior army officers in Saturday’s strikes.
Iranian missiles and drones have focused a number of international locations throughout the area – together with Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Although most of those missiles and drones have been shot down by air protection methods, some have reached their goal. At least 10 individuals have been killed and greater than 200 injured in Israel, based on Magen David Adom – the nation’s emergency service. Nine of these fatalities occurred when an Iranian missile struck a bomb shelter in the city of Beit Shemesh close to Jerusalem.
For US-allied Gulf international locations like the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, the spreading conflict has punctured the sense of safety which had lengthy attracted Western expats and vacationers. Dramatic footage from Dubai on Saturday confirmed a luxurious resort ablaze and folks fleeing a smoke-filled passageway at its airport, the place 4 employees the place injured.
And in Bahrain, a fire broke out on the higher flooring of a high-rise residential constructing about a mile from a US Navy base after it was struck by an Iranian drone.
Iran’s huge oil reserves and its geostrategic place controlling the Strait of Hormuz, a slender stretch of water by way of which a lot international commerce flows, implies that the conflict has profound ramifications for the international financial system.
Oil and pure fuel costs surged Monday – futures contracts for Brent crude, the international benchmark, spiked virtually 9% to commerce at round $79 a barrel whereas WTI, the US benchmark, climbed 8% to $73 a barrel.
The value of Dutch pure fuel, the European benchmark, surged even additional, by 23%, pushed by mounting issues over potential disruption to provide.
Although Iran has not formally closed the strait, by way of which one-fifth of the world’s international commerce in liquified pure fuel and every day oil manufacturing passes, vessels are avoiding the waterway, notably after oil tankers in the area have been attacked over the weekend.
Oil refineries stay a serious retaliatory goal too, as proven when Saudi Arabia intercepted two drones on Monday morning at Ras Tanura, one among the nation’s largest oil refineries, which has the capability to supply 550,000 barrels a day.
With a lot of the area’s airspace closed and airways pressured to cancel flights by way of a number of cities, 1000’s of vacationers have been left stranded.
Major airports like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have positioned themselves as key connecting nodes for international airline routes, with tens of millions of passengers transiting by way of them yearly.
Several main airways positioned there, together with Emirates and Etihad in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Qatar Airways in Doha, have suspended flights to and from their bases not less than till Monday afternoon native time.