The US and Israeli air war against Iran escalated with no end in sight on Monday, with Israel attacking Lebanon in response to Hezbollah attacks and Tehran firing missiles and drones at British air bases in the Gulf and as far as Cyprus.
Kuwait accidentally shoots down three American F-15E fighter jets during an Iranian attack. All six crew members escaped and were recovered safely. Video taken at the location seen by Reuters showed one of the planes spiraling out of the sky, its engine bursting into flames.
Markets opened on Monday after a weekend bombing that killed Iran’s supreme leader, pulled neighboring countries into war and cut off shipping traffic in the Gulf, but energy prices soared and the global economic recovery is at risk.
Hegseth tells Trump about deadline
In his first official Pentagon briefing since the campaign began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to set a date for ending the campaign, saying it was up to President Donald Trump.
The military’s goal, Hegseth said, was to destroy Iran’s ability to deploy force across its borders, which Iran has used as a cover to develop nuclear weapons.
“We are attacking them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically,” he said.
Gen. Dan Kaine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, described an overwhelming military operation that included hitting more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours, and said more troops were still on their way to the region.
“This is not an overnight operation. The military objectives CentCom and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take time and, in some cases, difficult and patient work to achieve,” Cain said.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says it offered to rein in its nuclear program in talks when the United States launched the unprovoked attack.
In the biggest American foreign policy gamble in decades, Mr. Trump has launched a campaign alongside Israel against an enemy that has tormented the United States and its allies for generations.
President Trump has repeatedly called on Iranians to rise up and overthrow their leader and said the air campaign could last for weeks. Uncertainty about the future and emotions ranging from elation to anxiety to anger swirled in Iran, where the bombs clogged highways as residents evacuated cities.
Many Iranians publicly celebrated the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, 86, who ruled the country for 37 years and commanded security forces that killed thousands of anti-government protesters earlier this year.
But conservative clerical leaders show no signs of bowing to power. Military experts say US and Israeli air power alone, with no troops on the ground, may not be enough to dislodge them. Meanwhile, a number of Iranians are reported to have been killed in airstrikes, including those that hit targets believed to be civilians.
“They are killing children and attacking hospitals. Is this the democracy President Trump wants to bring us? Innocent people were killed first by the regime and now by Israel and the United States,” Morteza Sedighi, a 52-year-old teacher, said by phone from Tabriz in northwestern Iran.
War spreads to Lebanon
In a sign that Iran’s rulers are still reaching out to the outside world, a senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Iran has and will continue to defend itself against invaders.
On Monday, a new front in the war began when Hezbollah, one of Tehran’s main allies in the Middle East, fired missiles and drones at Israel.
Israel responded with sweeping airstrikes, targeting Hezbollah-held southern suburbs of Beirut and said it had struck senior militants. Lebanese state news agency NNA said an initial tally was 31 people killed and 149 injured.
Israel has declared Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem a “target for exclusion.” Officials said they were not currently considering a ground invasion of Lebanon, where the government banned Hezbollah’s military activities on Monday.
Plumes of black smoke rose around the US embassy in Kuwait as US allies in the Gulf came under renewed attack from Iranian missiles and drones. Loud explosions were also heard in Dubai and Samha in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Qatar, one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, has halted production. Saudi Arabia has shut down its largest oil refinery after a drone attack caused a fire. The refinery was one of many energy facilities targeted.
Drones struck Britain’s Akrotiri Air Base in Cyprus overnight in the first strike aimed at reaching US allies in Europe. Britain and Cyprus said the damage was limited and there were no casualties.
European allies distanced themselves from President Trump’s initial decision to go to war, but have since said they would help curb Iran’s ability to retaliate.
Ali Larijani, a powerful adviser to Khamenei, said on the X-Post on Monday that Iran would not negotiate with President Trump, who has “delusional ambitions” and is concerned about the casualties of U.S. troops.
first US casualty
U.S. Central Command announced that a fourth U.S. service member had died, without elaborating on the circumstances. The first three U.S. service members were confirmed dead Sunday. Two U.S. officials told Reuters he was killed at a base in Kuwait.
A prolonged military operation could pose a major political risk to President Trump’s Republican Party ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Only about one in four Americans support the operation, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the disruption of oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes through the Iranian coast, has shocked the global economy. Oil prices soared by double-digit percentages as trading opened on Monday. Stocks fell and the dollar soared.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday it had attacked three U.S. and British oil tankers in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Hundreds of ships, including oil and gas tankers, anchored in nearby waters, shipping data showed.
Air travel around the world was also disrupted as airstrikes shut down major airports in the Middle East.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Laila Bassam in Lebanon, Jana Choukair in Dubai, Andrew Mills in Doha, Michele Kambas in Nicosia and Yanis Kurtoglou in Akrotiri; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Emily Rose in Dubai, Reuters bureau; Writing by Martin Petty and Peter Graf; Editing by John Boyle and Timothy Heritage)
