War widens as Israel and US pound Iran and Tehran and its allies hit back

breakingnews.ie · Mar 2, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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The war in the Middle East spiralled on Monday as Israel and the United States pounded Iran in a campaign that US President Donald Trump said was likely to take several weeks. Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, neighbouring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas. The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Safe havens in the Middle East like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; oil prices shot up; and US allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones. With no sign of the conflict abating anytime soon, Mr Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that”. He said US forces were determined to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its naval capacity, stop the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that Iran cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes. “This was our last, best chance to strike, what we’re doing right now, and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime,” Mr Trump said. Iran has long threatened, if attacked, to drag the region into total war, including targeting Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the flow of crude oil crucial for global energy markets. All of these came under attack on Monday. The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the US military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles while Iran was attacking with aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones. US Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely and are in a stable condition. pic.twitter.com/uAxTGrJisv — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2026 The Gulf state of Qatar meanwhile said its air force had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers. Israel and the US bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships. As several airstrikes hit Iran’s capital Tehran, the top security official Ali Larijani said on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.” Mr Trump said that he would not get “bored” with continuing the operation over a four to five week period. “I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this.” He said the US had also projected it would take four weeks to get rid of Iran’s military leadership, but that was quickly accomplished “so we’re ahead of schedule there”. Meanwhile, the death toll grew on all sides. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that the US-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. An F/A-18F Super Hornet prepares to land on the USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury (US Navy/AP) In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group also targeted Israel, which responded with strikes on Lebanon, killing more than 50 people. Meanwhile, four American troops have been killed, and three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain. In Kuwait City, fire and smoke rose from inside the US embassy compound, shortly after the US issued a warning to Americans to take cover and stay away from the complex. There were no immediate reports on damage or casualties. Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran on Monday (Mohsen Ganji/AP) With world markets already rattled by the fighting, QatarEnergy said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas, taking one of the world’s top suppliers off the market. It offered no timeline for restoring its production. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack from drones, with defences downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The refinery has a capacity of more than half a million barrels of crude oil a day. A drone also targeted an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, killing one mariner, the sultanate said, while debris fell on an oil refinery in Kuwait. Iran continues to maliciously launch ballistic missiles, indiscriminately targeting military and civilian locations throughout the region. U.S. forces remain on the hunt to eliminate this threat. As the President has said, our resolve has never been stronger. pic.twitter.com/SDdvaL38yp — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 2, 2026 Several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes and where Iran has threatened attacks. “The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. “An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead.” The region is also a hub for air travel, and passengers have been stranded around the world as carriers based in the Gulf grounded flights. Long-haul carriers Etihad and Emirates restarted limited flights Monday. Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday. Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon (Hassan Ammar/AP) “Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said. Israel and the US have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the US bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said that it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure”. Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so while saying its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. Iran’s government news outlet said Monday that Tehran’s Golestan Palace, a Unesco-listed heritage site, was damaged in US–Israeli strikes on Sunday Israeli security forces inspect a damaged road after a missile launched from Iran struck Jerusalem on Sunday (Mahmoud Illean/AP) Hezbollah said it fired missiles on Israel early Monday in response to Khamenei’s killing and “repeated Israeli aggressions”. It was the first time in more than a year that the militant group has claimed an attack. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Associated Press journalists in Beirut were jolted awake by loud explosions that shook buildings and shattered windows. The rubble of a police station in Tehran (Vahid Salemi/AP) Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army chief of staff, said the military would not end its offensive against Hezbollah “before the threat from Lebanon is eliminated”. “We will end this campaign with not just Iran being struck but with Hezbollah suffering a devastating blow,” he said. Rescue services in Israel said several locations have been hit by Iranian missiles, including Jerusalem and a synagogue in Beit Shemesh. In all, 11 people have been killed. Iran’s proxies were a chief concern for American and Israeli officials before they moved ahead with strikes over the weekend. The Iraqi Shiite militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed a drone attack on Monday targeting US troops at the airport in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. It claimed another drone attack on Sunday against a US air base in Iraq’s north. The US military said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000lb pound bombs. Mr Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed”. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the US was not engaged in a nation-building effort in Iran, and there is a clear mission. “This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” Mr Hegseth said. He did not give specifics when asked about the ultimate goals of the operation, how long it might last or what success would look like, saying doing so would disadvantage US forces. It’s not completely clear what the US objectives are. In announcing the initial strikes, Mr Trump referred to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. But he also listed various grievances dating back to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and urged Iranians to “take over” their government. There have been no signs yet of any such uprising. Mr Trump, however, has also signalled he would be open to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership, which could be chosen soon. In an indication that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said on Sunday they were ready to work with the US to help stop Iran’s attacks. Early on Monday, Cyprus said a drone “caused limited damage” when it hit a British air base there. Tehran’s streets have been largely deserted, as people sheltered during airstrikes. The paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent nationwide protests, set up checkpoints across the city, according to witnesses. In the northern Iranian city of Babol, a student, speaking anonymously through 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. “We don’t know whether to be happy about the elimination of the criminals who oppress us or to remain silent in the face of the US and Israel’s war against the country and its interests and the terror that is taking place,” he said.