Israel steps up air strikes in Tehran as Iran widens response across region

Israel has stepped up air strikes against Iranian missile launchers and factories and Iran has retaliated across the Gulf region, disrupting energy supplies and travel.

As explosions rang out in Tehran and in Lebanon – where Israel said it struck Hezbollah militants – the American embassy in Saudi Arabia came under drone attack.

Four days into a war that US President Donald Trump suggested would last several weeks but perhaps longer, hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran, where information has been limited because of poor communications, round-the-clock air strikes and tight restrictions on journalists.

Iran has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel, setting off air raid sirens across the country.

The pace of the attacks appeared to be slowing and Israel has intercepted most of the incoming fire, but some missiles have landed, killing 11 people.

The spiralling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end.

Mr Trump seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive US military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.

The administration has given various objectives.

While the initial US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mr Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government, senior administration officials have since said regime change was not the goal.

Mr Trump said on Monday the military campaign’s four objectives were to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied armed groups.

The US president said on Tuesday that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the US-Israel campaign is finished.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Mr Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran’s last shah, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over leadership in Iran.

Regarding possible leaders inside Iran, “the people we had in mind are dead”, Mr Trump said.

“I guess the worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen.”

Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Ayatollah Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years.

It is only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen.

Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear programme.

Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead.

The Israeli military said it conducted a wave of air strikes on sites that produce and store ballistic missiles, in Tehran and Isfahan.

Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no-one was injured.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained “some recent damage”, though there was “no radiological consequence expected”.

The US hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s nuclear programme.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs.

He offered no evidence to support his claim.

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two Iranian nuclear sites before the war.

Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.

A north Tehran resident has described growing fears in the capital as it comes under heavy bombardment.

Communications into Iran remain unstable with the internet largely blocked.

The resident messaged The Associated Press before dawn on Tuesday.

He said a major blast had shaken his building on Monday.

“I was by the window and felt the shockwave. Pretty scary, then saw the smoke,” he said.

Most shops in the normally bustling area of Tajrish were closed, he added.

Iran has declared an official mourning period following the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei.

The resident said bakeries were open and supermarkets were stocked, but ATMs were mostly “out of cash”.

Iran’s economy was already spiralling when the currency crashed to record lows in December.

An attack from two drones on the US embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire”, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.

It followed an attack on the US embassy in Kuwait.

US embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon said they were closed to the public.

The US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, the US has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded.

The State Department said on Tuesday it is preparing military and charter flights for Americans who want to leave the Middle East.

Several other countries arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.

The US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

In Israel, where Iranian missiles struck several locations, 11 people were killed.

The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 40 people in Lebanon.

The US military has confirmed six deaths of American service members.

In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Middle East in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes.

Recent targets included two Amazon data centres in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain.

The centres in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one in Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.

Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed,” declared Iranian Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowing that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country “will not go unanswered”.

As oil and natural gas prices climbed, stock prices fell sharply.

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military hit Beirut with more air strikes and said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions at several strategic points close to the border.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon later said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops going into and then out of Lebanon.

But Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon.