Israeli and U.S. forces pounded targets across Iran on Tuesday, prompting Iranian retaliatory strikes around the Gulf as the conflict spread to Lebanon, rattling global markets and sending oil prices sharply higher.

Four days into the war, U.S. President Donald ​Trump told reporters that the U.S. military had struck numerous Iranian naval and air targets, saying that “just about everything has been knocked out”.

In his most extensive public comments yet, he also sought to justify the assault on Iran, saying ‌he had ordered his forces into action because he had “a feeling” Iran would attack after negotiations over its nuclear programme stalled.

In response to the fierce assault, Iranian drones struck the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia after previously hitting the mission in Kuwait. Washington shut both embassies, as well as its one in Lebanon, and ordered non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave much of the Middle East.

A source familiar with Israel’s war plan told Reuters that the campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was going through its target list faster than expected, with early success in killing its leaders — including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the ​opening salvoes on Saturday.

When asked who he would like in charge in Iran following the death of Khamenei, Trump gave a blunt assessment: “Most of the people we had in mind are dead.”

Iran’s capital Tehran, was repeatedly shaken by violent explosions throughout the ​day, with Israel striking the headquarters of the state broadcaster IRIB as well as an area around the city’s Mehrabad airport.

The building housing Iran’s Assembly of Experts, tasked with choosing a leader to replace ⁠Khamenei, was also flattened by an air attack in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, Iranian news agencies said.

It was not immediately clear if anyone died in the raid, but Trump said senior Iranians had perished on Tuesday, without giving details. “I guess there was another ​hit today on the new leadership, and it looks like that was pretty substantial also,” he said.

As Iranians have fled cities, the capital has become a ghost town.

“How long will this continue? Where are the shelters? Where is the government?” Bijan, 32, a bank employee, told Reuters by ​telephone from Tehran.

“Every night my wife and I hide in the basement. The whole city is empty. There is smoke and blood everywhere.”

Firuzeh Seraj said she was afraid to take her 10-year-old daughter for dialysis treatment after a hospital in the capital was struck.

“World, do you see? They are killing us. Hear our voice,” she said through tears from Tehran.

STOCK MARKETS TUMBLE, ENERGY PRICES SOAR

Global stock markets slid as the disruption of Middle East energy supplies threatened to reignite post-pandemic inflation.

The price of crude oil gained nearly 8% on Tuesday to above $83 per barrel, the highest since July 2024, taking gains since Friday to more than 15%, and ​the European wholesale price for natural gas was up a punishing 40%.

Trump said on Tuesday that as soon as the war ended, “those prices are going to drop I believe, lower than even before”.

Wall Street indexes were down nearly 2% by 1730 GMT, following European stocks’ more than ​3% loss after MSCI’s Asia Pacific index closed down 3.5%.

Iran has called the war an unprovoked attack.

“We have told the enemy that if you try to harm our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region,” Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief, said in ‌remarks carried by Iranian ⁠media.

Iran has fired missiles and drones at neighbouring Arab states that host U.S. bases, and strangled shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas travel past its coast.

Qatar, one of the world’s main exporters of LNG, has halted production, while tankers have dropped anchor in the Gulf rather than brave the strait.

The cost of hiring a tanker to ship oil from the Middle East to Asia has nearly quadrupled since last week to an all-time high well over $400,000 a day.

The war has also spread to Lebanon, where Iran’s Hezbollah allies fired on Israel, which responded with air strikes and reinforcements of ground positions in the south. Thick black smoke blanketed Beirut as the sound of explosions rumbled in the air. Authorities said dozens were killed there.

Iran said its death toll from the attacks had ​reached 787, citing the Red Crescent.

State media showed hundreds packing the ​streets of the southern city of Minab to mourn scores ⁠of girls killed in the bombing of a girls’ school on the war’s first day, by far the worst of several reported attacks to hit civilian targets.

The girls’ small coffins, draped with Iranian flags, were passed from a truck and borne by the crowd across a sea of upraised hands towards the grave site.

The U.N. human rights office demanded an investigation into the strike, which its spokesperson called “absolutely horrific”.

Some Iranians have openly ​celebrated the death of Khamenei, 86, who had ruled Iran for 37 years and led security forces that killed thousands of anti-government protesters only weeks ago.

RUBIO SAYS WASHINGTON ATTACKED KNOWING ISRAEL WOULD STRIKE

While Israeli ​officials explicitly say they want to oust Iran’s ⁠government, U.S. officials have said the war’s aim is to destroy Iran’s ability to project force beyond its borders.

Trump has also urged Iranians to topple the clerical leadership, which has tormented the U.S. and its allies for generations, but urged caution.

“If you’re going to go out and protest, don’t do it yet. It’s very dangerous out there,” he said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told a briefing that the duration could depend on developments, adding: “We have prepared a general scope of weeks.” Asked if Israel could deploy ground forces to Iran, Shoshani ⁠said that was ​unlikely.

In Israel, where Iranian missiles have killed 10 people since Saturday, air raid sirens sounded repeatedly, warning of incoming attacks and sending millions into bomb shelters as the ​blasts of interceptions shook buildings and shrapnel crashed through the roof of a residential building near Tel Aviv.

Israeli and US strikes on Tuesday hit the building of a body tasked with electing Iran’s new supreme leader, local media reported.

Former leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed during a wave of US-Israeli attacks on Saturday.

“The American-Zionist criminals attacked the Assembly of Experts building in Qom,” south of Tehran, according to the Tasnim news agency.

The assembly is tasked with appointing, supervising and potentially dismissing the supreme leader.

Local media showed footage of the building severely damaged in the strikes.

There was no information on any potential casualties.

The Mehr news agency reported that the building was no longer being used for meetings.

Tasnim reported that strikes had already targeted the main headquarters of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Monday.

Iran declared on Sunday the start of a transition process after confirming Khamenei’s death.

The plans include the formation of an interim leadership council including the president, the head of the judiciary and a jurist from the Guardian Council, the body that oversees legislation and vets electoral candidates.

Also playing a central role is Iran’s top security chief Ali Larijani.

The interim leadership council will lead the country while a permanent successor is found for the supreme leader.

Drones struck a fuel tank in Oman on Tuesday, while in the UAE, an oil storage zone was hit, as Iran pursued its campaign against the Gulf economy in response to US and Israeli strikes.

The attacks came after Iran widened its targets to include infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar — where the state-run energy firm suspended LNG production, sending European energy prices skyrocketing.

Several drones also targeted the port of Duqm on Oman’s eastern coast, according to a security source quoted by the official Oman News Agency.

“The resulting damage was contained without any human casualties,” the report said.

The Oman attack is the second on the port in three days, with the sultanate targeted despite acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States just days prior to the war.

On Sunday, a worker was injured when two drones struck the same port. One hit accommodation for workers, while debris from the other landed near fuel tanks, the Oman News Agency said.

They were the first attacks on the sultanate since war broke out.

In the United Arab Emirates, falling debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage and trading zone in the emirate of Fujairah on Tuesday, authorities said.

“No injuries were reported, the fire was brought under control and normal operations in the area have resumed,” the Fujairah Media Office said.

Iran’s attacks have widened to include energy facilities, despite Tehran claiming it is targeting US assets.

QatarEnergy, one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters, suspended production due to drone strikes against two of its sites on Monday.

Also on Monday, a drone struck a fuel tank terminal in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, causing a fire, though operations were not impacted.

An oil tanker was also hit off the coast of Oman on the same day, killing one person in a blast in the vessel’s main engine room.

A source close to the Saudi government told AFP that a “concerted” Iranian attack on oil facilities could trigger a military response from Riyadh.

The warning followed a drone strike at state oil giant Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery — one of the region’s biggest — which forced it to halt some operations.

“It depends if this is seen as a direct attack on Aramco by the Iranian leadership or a rogue drone,” the source told AFP.

Saudi Arabia would target “Iranian oil facilities if Iran mounts a concerted attack on Aramco”, the source said.

The US State Department said Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency staff to leave six Middle Eastern countries, as Iran retaliated against US-Israeli strikes.

The war in the Middle East began on Saturday when joint US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, causing Tehran to launch retaliatory salvos across the region.

The department said it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “to reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel”.

The advisories for five of the countries cited an “ongoing threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran”, while the notice for Iraq cited “security concerns”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted a US air base in Bahrain, the Islamic Republic’s elite force said in a statement carried on Tuesday by the official IRNA news agency.

In Iraq, hundreds of protesters in the capital Baghdad, many dressed in black, attempted Sunday to storm the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy is located.

In Jordan, the US embassy in the capital Amman said Monday it had temporarily evacuated its staff due to an unspecified threat.

The US embassy in Kuwait said Tuesday it was closed until further notice, a day after an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from the mission following Iranian attacks on the country.

AFP journalists in Qatar heard explosions on Tuesday, while in the UAE, falling debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage zone.

The State Department earlier urged Americans to leave all of the Middle East from Egypt eastward due to safety concerns.

Israel struck a headquarters belonging to the Jamaa Islamiya, an ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Tuesday, state media reported.

“The Israeli enemy carried out an air raid a short while ago, targeting a headquarters of the Jamaa Islamiya” in the coastal city, state media said.

Sidon was largely spared of major Israeli attacks during the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, which a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end.

The strike almost entirely destroyed a seven-storey building, according to an AFP photographer, and ambulances rushed to the scene.

It caused a powerful blast in a densely populated area, as seen on local media.

The Israeli military then issued an evacuation warning for another building in Sidon, saying it will hit “Hezbollah military infrastructure… in light of its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area”.

The Jamaa Islamiya had previously been the target of Israeli strikes in Lebanon after claiming responsibility for rocket launches towards Israel during the war between Israel and Hezbollah that began in October 2023.

Last month, it accused Israel of seizing one of its officials from a town near the border.

The Israeli military said that it “apprehended a senior terrorist” in the group who was then “transferred for further questioning in Israeli territory”.

Underground military installations in Pardis, near Tehran, were targeted in reported US and Israeli strikes as hostilities between Iran and Israel escalated.

The Israeli military said on Telegram it had launched a new wave of large-scale attacks targeting infrastructure in Tehran. It added that further details would be released later. No immediate official figures on casualties or damage were provided.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it had destroyed alleged enemy positions in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

In a statement, it said the sites were being used by groups planning infiltration and attacks inside Iran. Kurdish authorities in Iraq did not immediately respond to the claim.

Meanwhile, Iranian missile fire reportedly struck central Israel, injuring at least seven people, according to Israeli media.

The missiles hit areas including Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv, and Rosh HaAyin. Witnesses said buildings and vehicles were damaged by missiles and shrapnel, fires broke out at multiple locations, and roads were affected.

The Israeli military confirmed that Iranian missiles had landed in central Israel and said search and rescue teams were operating at the impact sites alongside emergency services. Authorities said the nature and scale of the damage were being assessed.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has urged Iran not to attack Saudi Arabia, saying Pakistan wants to prevent the conflict from widening and is working to ease tensions in the region.

Speaking on Aaj News programme “Spotlight”, Sanaullah said Pakistan had taken a guarantee from Saudi Arabia for Iran and that Tehran should trust it.

He stressed that Iran should avoid targeting Saudi Arabia, warning that Pakistan would meet its obligations under a defence agreement if required.

He said Islamabad did not want the war to expand and was making efforts to calm the situation.

“This war will remain limited to Iran and Israel,” he said, adding that Pakistan would play its role for regional stability.

The adviser said Pakistan was actively working for peace and was part of diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation.

He reiterated that the country sought peace and stability in the region and did not support a broader conflict, but would safeguard its national interests and defence responsibilities.

Sanaullah also warned that strict action would be taken against elements operating from Afghanistan who were involved in terrorism, saying such militants would be dealt with firmly.

One of Iran’s two airports, Mehrabad, which mainly handles domestic flights, was targeted on Tuesday by strikes as the United States and Israel kept up their bombardment of the Islamic Republic for a fourth day.

The Mehr news agency published photos showing a cloud of grey smoke rising into the sky behind what appeared to be a runway.

“The American-Zionist terrorists attacked the area around the Mehrabad airport” in the capital’s west, it said.

Two Turkish journalists in Israel to cover the Iran war were detained in Tel Aviv on Tuesday while filming a live broadcast, Turkish officials and Israeli police said.

Burhanettin Duran, Turkey’s presidential communications chief, said in a post on X that CNN Turk reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman had been detained in Israel.

They were arrested while shooting a live broadcast in Tel Aviv with Israel’s police saying they “allegedly filmed a security facility”.

CNN Turk posted footage of the moment they were stopped while filming in the street outside the Israeli defence ministry compound.

“Following a call… about two suspects who were equipped with cameras and allegedly broadcasting live to a foreign media outlet, a police unit arrived at the scene, halted the broadcast, and began checking the suspects,” a police statement said.

“The suspects, who identified themselves as journalists, presented an expired press card and were taken for questioning.”

Israeli military censorship prohibits the media from filming live broadcasts during air raid sirens or disclosing the exact locations of impact sites.

Duran said Turkey was “making the necessary efforts for the immediate release of our journalist colleagues” and were carefully following the matter.

The Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGS) said the journalists were there to film in connection with the Iran strikes and to share the latest situation with viewers in Turkey.

“Blocking journalists who are responsible for informing the public, and failing to protect journalists in war zones, is a violation of press freedom,” it wrote on X, urging Israel to “release our colleagues”.

CNN Turk is a Turkish news channel that operates under a licensing agreement with the parent company of CNN International.

Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across the Middle East on Tuesday as President Donald Trump warned it was “too late” for the Islamic republic to seek talks to escape the war.

As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and US embassies in the Gulf, Washington’s ally Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah.

“Their air defence, air force, navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said: ‘Too late!’,” Trump posted on his social media site, two days after he had agreed to talks and four days after US and Israeli strikes wiped out much of Iran’s senior leadership.

As if to underline Trump’s new stance, loud blasts echoed around downtown Tehran, AFP journalists in the city reported.

According to Iranian media, US and Israeli strikes had targeted the building housing the committee that is to elect Iran’s new supreme leader.

“The military has launched a ninth wave of strikes in Tehran. The Air Force has now begun a large-scale wave of strikes targeting the Iranian terror regime’s infrastructure in Tehran,” the Israeli military said.

At almost the same moment, the US embassy in Riyadh — which was damaged and briefly caught fire overnight in an Iranian drone strike — on Tuesday warned of an imminent attack in the eastern Saudi city of Dhahran, home to much of the kingdom’s oil and gas installations along the Gulf coast.

“There is a threat of imminent missile and UAV (drone) attacks over Dhahran. Do not come to the US Consulate,” the embassy posted on social media.

As Trump dismissed any remaining hope of a negotiated solution, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged foreign capitals to cut all ties with Tehran “following the Iranian regime’s attacks on all its neighbours and the massacre of its own people”.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to the official Xinhua news agency, warned Saar in a call that Beijing opposes the strikes.

“Force cannot truly solve problems — instead, it will only bring new problems and severe after-effects,” he said.

The United States and Israel triggered the rapidly spreading war on Saturday with a strike on Tehran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several more senior Iranian figures, followed by days of air and missile raids aimed at weakening the remaining government.

But Iran’s armed forces responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel, US embassies and military bases and on its Arab neighbours around the Gulf, targeting oil and gas facilities, ports and airports, foreign missions and landmark hotels.

Qatar has shut down its massive LNG industry, shipping traffic through the strategic Straits of Hormuz has all but halted and thousands of flights have been cancelled, leaving foreign governments scrambling to rescue trapped travellers.

The war has already sent shockwaves through world markets. Energy prices are soaring and share prices are falling. Asian giant India added its concern to China’s on Tuesday, with the foreign ministry expressing “great anxiety” for the fate of its 10 million citizens in the Gulf region.

“Our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy,” ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.

Market shockwaves

Drones meanwhile struck a fuel tank in Oman and in the UAE an oil storage zone was hit by falling debris from an intercepted drone, as Iran apparently widened its targets beyond US assets.

Qatar’s state-run QatarEnergy said it would halt some downstream production of substances including urea, polymers, methanol and aluminium after Iran attacked two gas processing plants.

The announcement prompted an immediate two percent rise in the price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange.

In Oman, several drones targeted the port of Duqm on its eastern coast on Tuesday. The attack was the second on the port in three days, with the sultanate hit despite acting as a mediator between Iran and the United States just days prior to the war.

The UAE says it has been targeted with more than 800 drones and nearly 200 missiles since the war erupted.

Reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh saw smoke damage on the walls and roof of the American embassy after two drones hit it overnight, starting a fire in one building.

Saudi police were swarming the diplomatic quarter and checking the IDs of everyone who entered. The Saudi foreign ministry described the attack as “heinous and unjustified”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini meanwhile warned that “the gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel”.

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said he was “deeply shocked” by the war’s toll on civilians, and the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran’s Natanz enrichment plant appeared in satellite imagery to have suffered “recent damage”.

On Monday, the US State Department had urged “Americans to DEPART NOW” from all of the countries and territories of the Middle East “due to serious safety risks”.

Israel, meanwhile, said it was seizing new forward positions inside southern Lebanon, after Hezbollah fired missiles in support of its backer Iran, provoking a furious Israeli bombardment.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces had been authorised “to advance and take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon in order to prevent attacks on Israeli border communities”.

Shortly afterwards, the military spokesman said: “In practice, Northern Command has moved forward… and is creating a buffer, as we promised, between our residents and any threat.”

A Lebanese army source said Israeli forces had advanced from around Kfar Kila, in an apparent attempt “to establish a broad security belt in south Lebanon”.

Death toll rises

According to a Lebanese military source, following Israel’s “escalation”, the Lebanese army redeployed troops posted near the southern border back to their bases. Hezbollah said it had launched strikes targeting three Israeli bases.

A spokesman for the UN refugee agency said 30,000 Lebanese had been driven from their homes and registered at collective shelters, while “many more slept in their cars on the side of roads”.

Throughout the region, the death toll has steadily increased, with six US military personnel killed so far in the war, according to US Central Command.

Iranian media have reported hundreds of Iranian casualties, including scores at a girl’s school, although AFP reporters have not been able to verify tolls independently.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Tuesday said there were 101 casualties inside Iran on the third day of the war, including “85 civilian deaths and 11 military personnel killed”.

At least 116 flights from airports across Pakistan to the Middle East were cancelled on Tuesday, affecting thousands of passengers as regional airspace closures triggered widespread disruption.

The cancellations followed rising tensions between Iran and the United States and the resulting uncertainty in the Middle East.

Several countries in the region temporarily closed their airspace, forcing airlines to suspend or reroute services.

According to sources, 32 flights were cancelled at Jinnah International Airport, 28 at Islamabad International Airport, and 20 at Allama Iqbal International Airport.

At Peshawar International Airport, 16 flights to Dubai, Sharjah, Qatar and Abu Dhabi were called off. Ten flights were cancelled at Multan Airport, four at Faisalabad Airport and two at Quetta Airport.

Sources said more than 500 Middle East-bound flights have been cancelled over the past four days. Airlines cited airspace restrictions in multiple countries as the primary reason.

The cancellations have caused severe inconvenience to passengers.

PAA denies reports of partial airspace closure

The Pakistan Airports Authority rejected reports circulating on social media about a partial closure of Pakistan’s airspace.

A PAA spokesperson said the country’s airspace remains fully safe and available for all commercial operations.

The authority clarified that NOTAM A0134/26 does not indicate any closure but refers to the temporary unavailability of specific routes.

Gulf closures hit aviation network

Meanwhile, escalating tensions between Iran and Israel prompted several Gulf states to temporarily shut their airspace, disrupting major aviation hubs including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Reports said more than 3,400 flights have been cancelled or rerouted so far, increasing operational pressure at key airports. Over 200 flights from Pakistan to Gulf countries have also been affected.

Aviation experts estimate daily losses to the global aviation network at around $350 million to $500 million, equivalent to roughly AED2 to AED4 billion.

Losses stem from crew costs, passenger accommodation and rebooking expenses, as well as cargo delays.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has issued a security alert warning of a potential imminent missile or drone attack over the eastern city of Dhahran.

There is a U.S. consulate in the city, where the headquarters of Saudi state oil giant Aramco are also located.

Iranian drones hit the U.S. embassy in Riyadh earlier on Tuesday, causing minor damage and starting a fire.

The U.S. mission in Kuwait had previously been struck.

Washington responded by shutting those missions and ordering non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave countries across the Middle East.

Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars “forever”, as the Republican president ​and his administration continued their push to justify a broad, ‌open-ended war on Iran with shifting aims and timeline.

In a social media post overnight, Trump said there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of U.S. munitions ​and that “wars can be fought “forever,” and very successfully, using ​just these supplies.”

“The United States is stocked, and ready ⁠to WIN, BIG!!!” he wrote.

His comments late on Monday ​come as the conflict enters its fourth day following U.S. and ​Israeli air strikes on Iran on Saturday.

Trump, who began his second term last year, campaigned in part on not starting any wars and instead ​focusing on the economy and has long derided the ​United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some top MAGA influencers have spoken out ‌against ⁠the latest Iran strikes, even as Republicans have been generally supportive despite potential political risks ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump earlier on Monday offered no details on how long the campaign against ​Tehran would last, ​but said ⁠it had been projected to last four to five weeks.

“We’re already substantially ahead of our time ​projections. But whatever the time is, it’s ​OK. Whatever ⁠it takes,” he said in his first public event since the conflict began, speaking briefly about the war ahead of a ⁠Medal ​of Honour ceremony at the White ​House.

Trump has not given a televised address to the nation, as is customary ​at times of military action.

Speaking at a weekly press conference, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei called on the U.S. and Israel to halt their military action.

“They have to stop the war, it wasn’t us who started the war, this military aggression was not our choice, our choice was diplomacy,” he said.

Turkiye is engaging with all parties to find a way to end the war in Iran and return to negotiations, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, adding that Ankara was also in talks with Oman on the matter as the Gulf nation works for the same goal.

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. The war quickly widened with Tehran striking Gulf states that host U.S. bases and Israel attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Turkiye, a NATO member and neighbour of Iran, had for weeks urged Washington and Tehran to reach an agreement during their rounds of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and missile capabilities, warning that the region could not handle any more destabilisation.

Fidan told members of Turkish media during a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner on Tuesday that Turkiye was “sensitively carrying out necessary initiatives with all our counterparts” to achieve peace in the region, and added it was critical to preserve the stability of Iran and the region.

“There isn’t a single-layered negotiation, there is a multi-layered negotiation,” Fidan said, according to a transcript of his comments shared on Tuesday.

“We have been talking to the Europeans for a few days… If you want peace, let’s work together. We are urging them to take action. The Gulf nations are now facing a serious situation,” he said.

“We are talking to the Omani (foreign minister). Oman is also still trying to do something there. We are talking to the Americans.”

In his strongest yet opposition to the attacks against Iran, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that they were a “clear violation” of international law.

Fidan warned against the conflict engulfing the whole region and affecting energy supplies. He added that the closure of the Hormuz Strait, where one-fifth of global oil trade skirts Iran’s coast, could “push the United States to obtain a quick result”.

He said Iran was trying to “create costs” for the U.S. and its partners by attacking Gulf states and energy infrastructure, but added that he didn’t believe Tehran could obtain the desired result that way.

“By bombing these places, Iran will say they should pressure the United States and end the war, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen. I don’t know how much Iran has left,” he said, adding that Tehran could instead “bother” Israel with missile strikes.

Britain has yet to decide whether it will send a warship to defend its Royal Air Force Akrotiri base in Cyprus, a source close to the matter said.

Earlier, the Times newspaper reported ministers had discussed such a deployment.

An Iranian-made drone strike hit a runway at the Akrotiri base in the early hours of Monday, and Britain has said UK assets were targeted by Iran.

The Times report, citing three sources, states that Defence Minister John Healey had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military figures, in which they discussed sending HMS Duncan to the region.

The Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will convey to Iran concerns among Arab leaders about Tehran’s strikes ​on oil infrastructure in the region, the Kremlin ‌said on Tuesday, as the Iran conflict continues to widen.

Putin held a flurry of phone calls on Monday with four Arab Gulf state ​leaders, offering to use Moscow’s ties to Tehran - with ​which it has a strategic partnership - to try ⁠and defuse tensions in the region.

“Putin will certainly make every ​effort to contribute to at least a slight easing of ​tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

“Yesterday’s discussions with virtually all of his interlocutors focused on Putin conveying his deep concern ​about the strikes on their infrastructure to our colleagues ​in Iran, taking advantage of the dialogue we maintain with the Iranian ‌leadership.”

Oil ⁠prices rose on Tuesday for a third day as Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli attacks with strikes against energy infrastructure in Gulf countries and against tankers in the Strait ​of Hormuz.

Putin offered his condolences to ⁠the family of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a note to President Masoud ​Pezeshkian over the weekend, but the Kremlin ​has not ⁠publicised any further contact with senior Iranian leadership since the strikes began on Saturday.

Putin has also not spoken with U.S. ⁠President ​Donald Trump, and Peskov said there ​were no plans for such a conversation at this time.

China respects Iran’s “legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, while urging a stop to U.S. military actions in favour of returning to talks and negotiations.

U.S. strikes on Iran “during ongoing negotiations … violate international law and basic principles of international relations,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press briefing.

“The Iran nuclear issue should eventually return to the track of political and diplomatic settlement,” Mao said.

Mao also said China will take necessary measures to ensure its own energy security when asked about the potential impact of U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran on China’s oil supply.

“Energy security is very important to the world economy, and all parties should ensure a stable and smooth energy supply,” she said.

On Monday, Mao confirmed that a Chinese citizen had been killed in Tehran amid ongoing military conflicts. “We express our condolences for the deceased compatriot and our sympathies to the family,” she said, adding that the Chinese Embassy in Iran has been instructed to assist the individual involved and their family.

As of March 2, more than 3,000 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Iran. Chinese embassies and consulates in neighbouring countries have sent working teams to assist evacuees at ports.

Mao called on all parties to halt military actions and prevent further escalation. Her comments followed Iran’s missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. military facilities in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states and other locations, reportedly in retaliation for joint U.S.-Israel strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

China said the U.S. and Israel conducted the strikes without UN Security Council authorisation, calling the actions a violation of international law.

Beijing also expressed concern over the conflict’s spillover effects on neighbouring countries and welcomed the GCC foreign ministers’ call for dialogue and diplomacy.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday condemned the attack on Iran and the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a clear violation of international law, saying Pakistan had immediately contacted Iran, regional countries and world leadership and taken emergency measures to evacuate its citizens.

Speaking at a Senate meeting chaired by Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, Ishaq Dar said Pakistan had engaged in negotiations to resolve the issue and had been conducting backdoor diplomacy with Iran.

He said the government had so far evacuated 792 Pakistanis from border crossings, while 35,000 remain in Iran.

Commercial flights are suspended, but the Taftan border and another crossing remain functional.

Emergency helplines are active around the clock, and Azerbaijan is providing visa facilities to Pakistanis at its border.

Dar said Pakistan had held discussions with leaders from 13 countries, including Turkey, Maldives, Bangladesh, Palestine, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Azerbaijan and the European Union.

He added that Pakistan had supported Iran’s position on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and noted that the attack came despite positive responses from Iran in earlier negotiations.

Senator Sherry Rehman said Pakistan took a clear stand by condemning the attack, emphasising that foreign policy decisions are guided by national interest and defence rather than emotions.

She warned that the region is facing a situation some circles are likening to World War III.

PTI Senator Ali Zafar called the attack illegal and a war crime, saying a regional security framework is needed for stability.

The Senate meeting was adjourned until Wednesday.

At least 30,000 displaced people have sought protection in shelters in Lebanon since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah began on Monday, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

“Conservative estimates suggest that nearly 30,000 people were hosted and registered at collective shelters,” said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch.

“Many more slept in their cars on the side of roads or were still stuck in traffic jams on the roads,” he added.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents of more than two dozen towns in southern Lebanon.

Israel has been striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and carrying out incursions across the border.

For decades, Dubai’s sales pitch featured gleaming skylines, tax-free salaries, ease of doing business and something far more intangible: the unspoken promise that whatever was happening elsewhere in the Middle East, this city was different. The conflicts that destabilised the region would somehow stop at Dubai’s borders.

On ​Saturday, that all changed. 

Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the Gulf hit Dubai’s key sectors, landing on airports, hotels and ports.

They also hit the psychological foundations of a city that had spent four decades constructing that identity ‌as one of the world’s most reliable places to do business in an unreliable neighbourhood.

Authorities in the UAE, a close US ally, moved quickly to contain the damage to confidence as much as the physical fallout.

The UAE’s National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority said the situation remained under control.

For investors and residents watching their landmarks hit by missiles, as they stockpiled supplies, the reassurances were noted. Whether they were enough is another question.

“It’s hard to overstate the peril for Dubai’s economic model,“ said Jim Krane, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

“The physical damage may be slight, and most of the pain thus ​far is psychological. But Dubai’s status as a safe haven for expatriates and their businesses is in increasing doubt. The longer the war continues, the more intense the search will be for alternative locations. Dubai needs this war to wrap up now. ​International capital is highly mobile.”

In a sign of the ongoing strains, the UAE’s stock markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday, while tech outages following a hit to Amazon’s cloud computing facilities were ⁠affecting some banking operations, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Tens of thousands remained stranded in the UAE as airspaces remained largely closed.

How Dubai built the brand

Dubai’s transformation from a modest pearling and fishing port into a global financial centre was a decades-long project.

The launch of Emirates airline in 1985, the opening of the Burj Al Arab in 1999 and laws in the early 2000s allowing foreigners to own property for the first time were the pillars of Brand Dubai.

Dubai’s economy is almost fully powered by non-oil sectors, with ​oil now accounting for less than 2% of GDP.

A mix of trade, tourism, high-end real estate and financial services, built on a regulatory framework that mirrored London and New York, has replaced it.

Neighbouring Abu Dhabi, which holds more than 90% of the UAE’s oil reserves, remains more reliant on oil revenue for growth.

Beirut had been the region’s international financial capital until its civil war in the 1970s shattered that image.

Bahrain stepped into the vacuum until Dubai’s rise rendered it a more modest player.

Each succession was built on the same promise: a stable, open alternative to wherever the region’s last crisis ​struck. Dubai executed that promise more completely than any of its predecessors.

Dubai’s rise was itself partly built on the instability of others.

With Syrians displaced by civil conflict, wealthy families rattled by the Arab Spring, and more recently Russians fleeing because of the Ukraine war, ​new residents all poured capital and talent into the emirate.

The population across the UAE ballooned from about 1 million in 1980 to 11 million in 2024.

Last year, the UAE was on track to attract a record 9,800 relocating millionaires, more than any other country on earth, according to Henley & ‌Partners.

Money has poured ⁠into real estate, propelling Dubai’s developer Emaar Properties to a record high on February 25, valuing the company at about 149 billion dirhams ($40.6 billion).

The creation of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in 2004 kick-started a push to draw financial firms.

By the end of 2025, DIFC hosted more than 290 banks, 102 hedge funds, 500 wealth management firms and 1,289 family-related entities.

What changed in the strikes

But vulnerabilities have remained. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne crude oil passes, runs through Dubai’s backyard.

Iran, a country with both the motive and the capability to destabilise Gulf commerce, sits directly across the water.

The physical damage over the weekend was stark.

Dubai International Airport was hit, a berth at Jebel Ali Port caught fire, and the Burj Al Arab sustained damage from interceptor fragments.

Three people were ​killed and 58 injured, according to the UAE Ministry of Defence.

“People ​are afraid of what’s happening. It’s the first time they ⁠have to hide in underground places. Dubai airport, one of the biggest in the world, has to shut down for a few days,” said Nabil Milali, multi-asset portfolio manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management.

He reduced the firm’s exposure to stocks globally last week to prepare for the possibility of an attack on Iran.

“There’s a 70% probability we will keep a geopolitical risk premia (on the region) for ​a long time.”

A source at a UAE-based mid-sized investment firm said their company had begun preemptively planning layoffs and halted fundraising.

Demand for gold bars surged, a jewellery industry source said.

International ​private banks, which had been expanding advisory ⁠operations in the emirate, may also reassess the scope of their presence, according to a private banker.

Firms may begin to rethink serving clients locally versus from another location, the banker said.

“Historically, markets like the UAE have demonstrated resilience during crises, including COVID, supported by strong policy response and governance,” said Madhur Kakkar, founder and CEO of Elevate Financial Services.

“At this stage, a broad structural reallocation of institutional capital away from the UAE or the wider Gulf appears unlikely unless tensions escalate materially or persist for an extended period.”

There is no data yet on capital outflows. The ⁠suspension of trading ​on the Abu Dhabi and Dubai stock exchanges on March 2 and 3 marks an unprecedented step for UAE regulators.

“It’s really quite a big change in perceptions,” ​said William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

“The Gulf economies have generally been seen as safe from Iranian retaliation. I think (that) has really changed over the weekend.”

The impact will depend on how long the conflict continues, he said.

“But I think this is quite a big challenge, particularly when we’re thinking about some of the ​diversification efforts that are underway in the region.”

Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply, and food staple stocks may become tight, officials say.

Israel has blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. 

Israeli authorities said late Monday night that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza on Tuesday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip without saying how much.

US Marines opened fire on demonstrators during the storming of the Karachi consulate over the weekend, two US officials said on Monday — a rare use ​of force at a diplomatic post that could sharply escalate tensions in the country ‌amid widespread protests over the killing of Iran’s leader.

Ten people were killed on Sunday when protesters breached the compound’s outer wall after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Citing initial information, the ​two US officials said it was unclear whether rounds fired by Marines struck or ​killed anyone.

They also did not know whether shots were also fired by others protecting ⁠the mission, including private security guards and local police.

This would mark the first confirmation by US ​officials that Marines were involved in firing at the protestors.

A provincial government spokesman, Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani, ​said “security” personnel had opened fire, without specifying their affiliation.

Daily security operations at US diplomatic missions are often carried out by private contractors and local forces, and the involvement of Marines in the incident underscores how seriously the ​consulate viewed the threat.

Pakistan is home to the world’s second‑largest Shia community after Iran.

On Monday, the government banned large gatherings nationwide after the protests over the strikes on Iran spread, with 26 people reported dead ‌across ⁠the country.

Protesters gathered outside the consulate to protest the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Isreali attack, where Reuters reporters heard gunfire and saw tear gas fired in surrounding streets.

A video on social media appeared to show at least one protester firing a weapon toward the consulate, and bloodied demonstrators fleeing as shots rang ​out.

A Karachi police official ​told Reuters that the ⁠shots were fired from inside the consulate premises.

The US Marines referred questions to the US military, which in turn referred questions to the State ​Department.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Shia ​community leaders have ⁠called for more protests in Lahore and Karachi despite the nationwide ban on public gatherings.

Roads ⁠leading ​to the US consulate in Karachi were blocked off with ​a heavy police presence in the area.

Similar measures were in place around US missions in Lahore and Islamabad.

A grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is likely to figure prominently in the deliberations of the clerics who will determine who replaces Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

The killing of Khamenei, 86, in a US-Israeli attack has brought new urgency to the question of who will be the next Supreme Leader, a long-simmering issue over which there had been no clarity despite his age.

Hassan Khomeini is the most visible of the late Ayatollah’s 15 grandchildren and is seen as a relatively moderate within Iran’s clerical establishment.

He enjoys close ties to reformists, including former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, who both pursued policies of engagement with the West when in office.

Khomeini, 53, holds a symbolically important role in public life as custodian of his grandfather’s mausoleum in southern Tehran. He has never served in government.

Some politicians inside Iran have seen him as a rival to hardliners who gained sway under Khamenei, notably his son, Mojtaba.

The case for installing a moderate successor to Khamenei gained momentum among some Iranian politicians in the wake of unrest that swept Iran in January as a means of shoring up the Islamic Republic in the face of widening dissent.

Accountability for Amini’s death

While loyal to the Islamic Republic established after the Shah was toppled in 1979, Khomeini has a track record of urging reform and has occasionally voiced dissent against authorities.

In 2021, he criticised the Guardian Council — the branch of Iran’s theocracy responsible for vetting presidential candidates — after it barred reformists from running.

The council’s move paved the way for the victory of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024.

“You can’t pick someone for me and tell me to vote for them!” Khomeini said at the time.

He also demanded accountability after Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman, died in 2022 after being taken into custody by morality police, accused of violating conservative dress codes — an incident that ignited countrywide protests.

Authorities “must transparently and precisely account for what has happened to this 22-year-old girl under the pretext of ‘guidance and education’,” he said.

But, reflecting his loyalty to the system, the mid-ranking cleric also criticised protesters who chanted against Khamenei.

During the unrest that swept Iran in December and January — the deadliest since the 1979 revolution — he rallied behind the establishment, accusing rioters of serving Israel, taking part in a pro-government march, and likening some of the violence to the actions of Daesh.

In a condolence letter, Khomeini said Khamenei would forever “be the hero of the people of Iran and Muslims”, adding: “The noble people of Iran will once again walk the path of the Imam (Khomeini) by overcoming this incident.”

‘Progressive theologian’

A close friend of Khomeini’s, speaking to Reuters in 2015, described him as a progressive theologian, especially when it comes to music, women’s rights, and social freedom.

He follows trends on social media and is interested in Western philosophy as much as Islamic thought.

His wife, Sayyeda Fatima, is the daughter of an Ayatollah, and they have four children.

Some reformists urged him to run for the presidency in 2012, but he declined.

Khomeini supported the Rouhani government that negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement, which eased sanctions in return for limits on the nuclear programme — until US President Donald Trump tore it up in 2018.

He has spoken openly about economic hardships endured by Iranians during the years of sanctions imposed over the nuclear programme.

Barred from elections

A decade ago, Khomeini sought to run in an election for the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for picking the Supreme Leader.

He secured an initial nod of approval for his candidacy from Khamenei, who reportedly gave his blessing while also cautioning Khomeini against doing any harm to his grandfather’s name.

But he was later disqualified by the Guardian Council.

Though his religious credentials were cited for the disqualification — Khomeini holds the clerical rank of Hojatoleslam, one notch below Ayatollah — the move was seen as intended to head off a potential challenge by the reformist camp.

In 2008, he was widely regarded as criticising Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) when he said in an interview that those claiming loyalty to his grandfather’s legacy should follow his order that the military must stay out of politics.

He nevertheless enjoys close ties to the Guards, an elite force tasked with safeguarding the Islamic Revolution.

During the 12-day air war between Israel and Iran last year, Khomeini wrote to Khamenei praising his leadership and saying Iranian missiles had become a nightmare for Israel and a source of satisfaction for the Iranian nation, according to Jamaran, an Iranian news website dedicated to Khomeini’s memory.

Khomeini has described Israel as the “evil Zionist regime” and “a cancerous tumour” backed by the West, and has said the Muslim world should make itself strong to confront Zionism, according to statements reported by Jamaran.

He is fluent in Arabic and English, according to the biography, and was a keen footballer until the age of 21, when his grandfather insisted he go to the city of Qom to study Islamic theology.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi has said that Iran was not behind the recent attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations.

In an interview with a US television channel, Takht-Ravanchi said Iran has made it clear to Saudi Arabia that it did not carry out the strike on the oil facilities.

It is worth noting that a drone attack targeted a refinery at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil-exporting port and the biggest oil-exporting port in the world.

According to the Saudi Ministry of Defence, debris from the drones caused a limited fire at the refinery, which was quickly brought under control.

No civilians were injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim News Agency cited Iranian military sources, claiming that the attacks on Saudi oil installations were part of an Israeli “false flag” operation.

It said the purpose of the Israeli strikes was to mislead regional countries and divert attention from attacks on civilian sites within Iran.

Iranian media sources stated that Iran has clearly declared it will target all US and Israeli interests, installations, and facilities in the region.

However, the Saudi Aramco refinery is not included among these targets, the media reports stated.

Citing intelligence, the reports claimed that the Fujairah Port in the United Arab Emirates could be the next target of Israel’s false-flag operation as Israel was planning to carry out a strike.