The US embassy in Saudi Arabia has been hit, as ITV News Asia Correspondent Debi Edward reports from Jerusalem
- Number of US service members rises to six.
- US embassy in Saudi Arabia closed after an attack on facility.
- At least 555 killed in Iran in strikes, including more than 200 civilians, by Israel and US, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
- Two Amazon data centres in the UEA struck by drones.
- Iraq has been added to the US State Department list for diplomatic evacuations, while non-emergency personnel have already been ordered out of Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan.
- British nationals urged to register with the Foreign Office ahead of emergency evacuation.
Israel continued to strike Tehran and Lebanon’s capital Beirut, as US president Donald Trump warned Iran to prepare for the “big wave” that was yet to come.
Iran and its allies have hit back against Israel and neighbouring Gulf states. The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was attacked by two Iranian drones, causing a “limited fire” and minor damage on Tuesday morning. It followed an attack on the US embassy in Kuwait on Monday.
The US also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar and Jordan as a precaution.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday it was conducting “simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut” with explosions heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut.
Trump said the US military was “knocking the crap” out of Iran in an interview with ITV News’ US partner CNN late on Monday.
“I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it,” he added.
Drones hit the American embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabi overnight, with the attack causing “limited fire and minor material damages”. There were no initial reports of any injuries.
“The shelter in place notification for Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran remains in place and we recommend American citizens in the Kingdom also continue to shelter in place,” the embassy wrote on X. It added that all Americans should “maintain a personal safety plan” and avoid the embassy facility until further notice.
The US embassy in Kuwait has also closed until further notice.
There were more strikes in Tehran overnight into Tuesday as the US and Israel have continued their attacks since the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Iran held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 people killed in what it described as an attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.
The crowd erupted into chants of “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “No surrender.”
Tuesday marks the fourth day of the war between the United States and Israel against Iran after the sides started exchanging fire consistently over the weekend.
Not an ‘endless war’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the US-Israeli military operation would not lead to an “endless war”.
“This is going to be a quick and decisive action, and we’re going to create the conditions first for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny to form their own democratically elected government,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Monday.
The comments came after Donald Trump said the US projected the operation would last four to five weeks, but that it has “the capability to go far longer than that”.
He then said he wouldn’t get “bored” of continuing the operation over such time. “I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this.”
The US had originally estimated it would take four weeks to get rid of Iran’s military leadership, but Trump said “we’re ahead of schedule there”.
Iranian threats
Iran is continuing to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, which is used to transport a fifth of all oil traded.
Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, issued the threat on Iranian state television on Monday.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our devotee heroes in the IRGC navy and the army will set those ships on fire,” he said. “Don’t come to this region.”
UK rebukes Trump
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his government “does not believe in regime change from the skies” on Monday, in an apparent criticism of the US president’s campaign in the Middle East.
The prime minister had told the House of Commons on Wednesday that he stood by his decision not to get involved with America and Israel’s initial wave of strikes on Iran, and insisted any action by the UK “must always have a lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan”.
Trump had criticised Starmer’s decision not to allow American jets to deploy from UK bases to undertake the strikes, telling the Telegraph he was “very disappointed” in the prime minister.
UK bases are now in play in the conflict, but only so the US can strike defensively to protect countries being targeted by Tehran.
This is understood to include the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
British nationals abroad
Previously safe havens in the Middle East, such as Dubai, have seen incoming fire and hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe.
UK officials are understood to be working on plans for the potential evacuation of more than 100,000 Britons from the Middle East.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper indicated that 102,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the region. She said a total of around 300,000 British citizens are in Gulf countries targeted by Iran.
British nationals are being advised to follow the instructions of local authorities and monitor the Foreign Office’s travel advice, which officials expect to change rapidly.
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