Drones struck the US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday as Iran retaliated against industrial and diplomatic targets across the Middle East, while Washington warned its citizens to evacuate the region.
Four days after US and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and ignited a widening conflict, reporters in the Saudi capital saw smoke damage on the walls and roof of the embassy compound.
Saudi police swarmed the diplomatic quarter, checking identification and blocking several roads leading to the US embassy.
Powerful explosions rocked Tehran overnight as fighter jets flew over the Iranian capital. US President Donald Trump signaled the conflict could intensify.
The US State Department urged “Americans to DEPART NOW” from all countries and territories in the Middle East “due to serious safety risks.”
Israel said it was taking new forward positions in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles in support of Iran, prompting heavy Israeli bombardment.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces were authorized “to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities.”
Following what a Lebanese military source described as an Israeli “escalation,” Lebanon’s army redeployed troops to the south. Hezbollah said it launched strikes on three Israeli bases.
Iranian strikes also hit oil and gas infrastructure in Gulf cities and at Oman’s port of Duqm. As European markets opened, benchmark Brent crude prices rose sharply.
“We will burn any ship that tries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” said revolutionary guards general Sardar Jabbari.
Death toll
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States acted “preemptively” after learning that Israel planned to strike Iran.
“The imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked — and we believed they would be attacked — that they would immediately come after us,” Rubio said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, “There was never any so-called Iranian threat,” adding, “the US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel.”
Six US military personnel have been killed, according to the US Central Command. Iranian media reported hundreds of casualties, including at a girls’ school, though AFP could not independently verify the figures.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said 101 people were killed inside Iran on the third day of fighting, including “85 civilian deaths and 11 military personnel killed.”
Also on Tuesday, Iran warned European countries against joining its conflict with Israel and the United States, after Germany, Britain and France said they could take “defensive action” to destroy Iran’s missile-launching capabilities.
“It would be an act of war. Any such act against Iran would be regarded as complicity with the aggressors. It would be regarded as an act of war against Iran,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said at a press briefing.