The China Mail - Middle East in deepening crisis as Iran war spreads

The Israeli military carried out new strikes on Tehran, and AFP reporters in the Iranian capital heard explosions ring out on the third day of the US-Israeli joint assault, while blasts also rocked Lebanon's capital Beirut.

Iran accused the US and Israel for the first time since the strikes began of having attacked its nuclear facility at Natanz, one of the main targets of the previous conflict between the three countries last June.

Gulf monarchies threatened to retaliate as Saudi and Emirati oil facilities were hit, Qatar halted LNG production, tankers were attacked off Oman, maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was halted and energy prices soared -- with Europe's benchmark gas price shooting more than 50 percent higher.

"We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened," warned President Donald Trump who, along with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the US-Israeli assault on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday and embroiled the region in conflict.

"The big one is coming soon," he added, without further explanation.

In a separate interview with the New York Post, Trump refused to rule out deploying US ground troops to Iran "if they were necessary".

Four US military members have been announced killed during the conflict, and three fighter jets have been downed by friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defences.

Iranian agencies have reported hundreds of casualties, but AFP reporters have not been able to independently assess the numbers.

Qatar said it had shot down two Iranian Su-24 ground attack jets, after it announced it had been obliged to halt LNG production.

Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, voiced defiance, vowing that Iran would defend itself "regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation".

- 'Some excitement' -

Tehran had the air of a ghost town on Monday, and many residents seemed to have left. Some, suitcases and luggage in hand, were preparing to do the same, AFP journalists saw.

Most of the vehicles on the otherwise largely deserted roads were food delivery vehicles. Customers rushed to buy fruit and bread from a few shops still open in the Tajrish bazaar.

Near the headquarters of state television, which was targeted by air strikes on Sunday evening, the smell of burning was still noticeable more than 12 hours later.

Many residents were torn between fear of the bombings and hope that the government's days might now be numbered.

"Every time we hear the noises, we get scared for just a second. But we experience some joy and excitement every time we hear a hit," a 45-year-old lawyer said, also in a voice message to Europe.

- Cyprus base hit -

An Iranian drone hit the runway of a UK air force base in Akrotiri in Cyprus, whose government announced that the major airport in its town of Paphos and the area around the British facility would be evacuated.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said British military bases in Cyprus would not be allowed to be used by US forces in their war with Iran. On Sunday, he had announced that he had agreed to a US request to use British military bases for a "specific and limited defensive purpose".

But on Monday he told parliament that this would not include the Cypriot bases.

A Cypriot government spokesman said two more drones targeting the base were "dealt with in a timely manner", and Greece announced it was deploying frigates and jets to help protect Cyprus, a fellow EU member.

Israel and the US have been striking targets across Iran since Saturday.

The Islamic republic's atomic energy chief, Mohammad Eslami, said in a letter to the UN's nuclear watchdog that the two had "targeted the Natanz nuclear site on Sunday afternoon in two brutal attacks".

It was the first time since the strikes began that Iran had said a nuclear site was attacked, after its atomic programme came under heavy assault during the 12-day war with Israel in June, which the US briefly joined.

The war that began with Khamenei's killing has engulfed the region, with explosions ringing out in Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq and elsewhere.

Flights through the region's hubs have been cancelled, disrupting international travel for many thousands of people, but Dubai announced that its airports would partially reopen later Monday.

In Lebanon, the strikes have triggered a new round of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, with the Iran-backed group firing rockets and its enemy responding with bombing.

"We will end this campaign with not just Iran being struck but with Hezbollah suffering a devastating blow," Israel's army chief Eyal Zamir said.

As Lebanon, which had vowed to disarm Hezbollah, was dragged into the war, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced "the immediate ban of all Hezbollah security and military activities", sparking condemnation from the group.

Explosions rocked Beirut, while in southern Lebanon residents fled, according to AFP journalists, after the Israeli military announced it was striking several parts of the country.

In the southern city of Sidon, cars of families fled on packed roads with mattresses tied to their roofs.

- Ships attacked -

The Israeli military said it had struck a senior Hezbollah operative in Beirut, while Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people.

In the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is key to global oil transit, three ships were attacked on Sunday after Iran had previously warned vessels against crossing.

Trump and Netanyahu have urged Iranians to overthrow the government in Tehran, the sworn foe of Israel and the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.

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