The China Mail - Israel, Iran trade blows across region: latest developments in US-Iran war

US President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of US service members and said the war with Iran could last for weeks.

Here are the latest developments:

- Israel strikes Tehran -

The Israeli military said on Monday it had begun a new "broad strike" in the "heart of Tehran" after generals vowed to step up attacks on "key elements of the regime".

Loud explosions were heard in several parts of the Iranian capital, AFP journalists said, shaking apartment buildings in the centre.

Iran's president appointed Revolutionary Guards general Majid Ebnelreza as acting defence minister after his predecessor was killed in Israeli-US strikes.

- Hezbollah fighting -

Israeli attacks on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, sent thousands in southern Lebanon fleeing.

The Israeli army told residents in towns and villages in the south to leave the area, though the army said there was no reason yet for a ground invasion.

The Lebanese government imposed an "immediate ban" on Hezbollah's military and security activities and called for it to hand over its weapons to the state, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced.

- Iran retaliates -

Iran's security chief Ali Larijani wrote on X that: "We will fiercely defend ourselves and our six thousand years old civilization regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculation."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards issued statements throughout the day describing waves of missile and drone attacks on Israel, with targets including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office along with security sites in Tel Aviv, Haifa and east Jerusalem.

A series of explosions were heard above Jerusalem late morning Monday.

- Gulf states targeted -

Iran also hit targets across the Gulf, with the army saying it had launched 15 cruise missiles in strikes on a US air base in Kuwait and vessels in the Indian Ocean.

QatarEnergy was forced to halt LNG production after a processing base and a power plant were hit, one person was killed as an oil tanker was targeted off Oman, and British officials said a vessel in a Bahrain port had been struck by "unknown projectiles".

The US embassy in Kuwait, where black smoke could be seen, said in a statement that people should not come to the diplomatic mission: "Take cover in your residence on the lowest available floor and away from windows. Do not go outside."

- Gas price surge -

European gas prices soared more than 50 percent on fears that the conflict will cut supplies in the Gulf region, with the Qatar attacks provoking an acute spike.

- Iranian deaths -

The Iranian Red Crescent said Monday that "131 cities have been affected" by US-Israeli strikes "and, regrettably, 555 of our compatriots have been killed". Iranian officials confirmed the killings of three Guards members and five army personnel.

- Trump vows vengeance -

The US military confirmed the death of a fourth service member hours after Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of the three US soldiers already killed during operations against Iran.

The US leader also called on Iranians to rise up, saying: "America is with you." He warned the country's Revolutionary Guards to surrender or face "certain death".

- War could last 'four weeks' -

Trump said he envisaged a four-week military operation against Iran, telling the Daily Mail newspaper: "It's always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so."

However, Iran's security chief Ali Larijani said later: "Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war."

- UNESCO site 'damaged' -

Iran's UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace in Tehran has been damaged in US and Israeli strikes, local media reported.

"Following the joint US-Israeli attack on Arag square in southern Tehran on Sunday evening, parts of the Golestan Palace... were damaged," the ISNA news agency reported, adding that windows, doors and mirrors were hit by reverberations from blasts.

- Nuclear sites undamaged -

UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi on Monday said his agency had "no indication" that any nuclear installations in Iran had been damaged or hit in the US-Israeli strikes.

- Drone hits Cyprus base -

At least one drone crashed into Britain's RAF Akrotiri military base in Cyprus in the early hours of Monday and another two were intercepted, prompting an evacuation of the facility.

While Greece said it was sending two frigates and two F-16 jets to Cyprus, the island's government said it would seek guarantees that British bases there would not be used for anything other than humanitarian purposes.

- UK-US spat -

Britain had agreed on Sunday to allow the US to use British military bases to fire "defensive" strikes at Iranian missile systems after initially refusing -- but this was not enough for Trump, who took aim at British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a newspaper interview.

"It took far too much time. Far too much time," Trump told the Daily Telegraph, adding he was "very disappointed" with the initial refusal.

- Saudi attack -

Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said some operations at its massive Ras Tanura refinery on the Gulf coast had been halted on Monday following an attack that caused a fire at the complex.

The Saudi army later raised its readiness to "full alert".

- US warplanes shot down -

Three American warplanes crashed in Kuwait on Monday morning but their crew survived, with US officials later saying Kuwaiti air defence had "mistakenly shot down" US warplanes.

- China urges truce -

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called for a ceasefire and diplomatic talks to end the conflict, as officials in Beijing confirmed one citizen had been killed in Iran.

Later, state media reported Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Beijing "supports Iran defending sovereignty".

- Iran says no US negotiation -

Iran "will not negotiate with the United States", Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Tehran's Supreme National Security Council said, denying media reports that Iranian officials had sought to initiate talks.

He said Trump's "delusional fantasies" had plunged the region into chaos.

- US officials to make case for war -

Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran.

Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and military chief Dan Caine "will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress," White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.

- Revolutionary Guards HQ 'destroyed' -

The US military announced it had destroyed the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) headquarters, with the US Central Command saying: "America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters."

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