Anywho, Israel and the United States pounded Iran on Monday in an escalating campaign that U.S. President Donald Trump said would likely take several weeks. Tehran and its allies hit back across the region, striking Israel and a variety of targets inside Gulf states, including energy facilities in Qatar and the American embassy in Saudi Arabia.
The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; energy prices shot up; and U.S. allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.
Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh came under attack from two drones, which caused a “limited fire” and minor damage. Further details weren’t immediately available. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait was struck.
With no sign of the conflict abating, Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
In a sign of concern over the potential for spiraling violence, the State Department on Monday urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks.
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.”
Trump said the military campaign's objectives are 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 groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.
Hell, what conflict have Iran and Israel been involved in for 58yrs seeing as Hezbollah is an Iranianpatsy proxy?
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Iran expands attacks to regional energy facilities while try’n to make this into an Islam vs non-Islam thing, ‘cuz why not? World markets were rattled as the fighting expanded across a region vital to energy supplies.
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack from drones, but its defenses downed the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The refinery has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.
“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
The Gulf state of Qatar said its air force shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, and QatarEnergy said it would stop producing liquefied natural gas indefinitely, taking one of the world’s top suppliers off the market. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response, while several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes and where Iran has threatened attacks.
Hezbollah in Lebanon fires on Israel, prompting massive response.Hezbollah said it fired missiles on Israel early Monday in response to Khamenei’s killing and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” It was the first time in more than a year the militant group has claimed an attack.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country's Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon. Associated Press journalists in Beirut were jolted awake by loud explosions that shook buildings and shattered windows, ‘cuz greater Israel.
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards senior official said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and Iran will fire on any ship trying to pass, Iranian media reported.
This is Iran's most explicit warning since telling ships it was closing the export route on Saturday, a move that threatens to choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.
"The strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze," Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.
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(The move also comes after global shipping had already experienced disruptions linked to drone and missile attacks carried out by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants. The group has targeted vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since the Gaza war broke out about October 7th, 2023 for some reason)
I wonder if those are “manned” craft above? The IRGC plays a key role in Iran’s defence, foreign operations and regional influence with its 190,000 or so active personnel and a total of 600,000 if reserves are included. The IRGC manages Iran’s ballistic missile programme, is responsible for security for the country’s nuclear programme and coordinates with its regionalproxies allies in what is described as the “axis of resistance”.
The IRGC, however, is also deeply entrenched in Iran’s political and economic structures. Its economic role expanded during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, as it handled engineering and logistics to sustain Iran’s war effort. War against whom you might ask? Firms affiliated with the IRGC reportedly have contracts in key sectors such as Iran’s natural resources, transport, infrastructure, telecommunications, and mining.
Iranian officials call this the “resistance economy” and say this is part of how the country has circumvented sanctions.
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The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; energy prices shot up; and U.S. allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.
Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh came under attack from two drones, which caused a “limited fire” and minor damage. Further details weren’t immediately available. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait was struck.
With no sign of the conflict abating, Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
In a sign of concern over the potential for spiraling violence, the State Department on Monday urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks.
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.”
Trump said the military campaign's objectives are 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 groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.
Hell, what conflict have Iran and Israel been involved in for 58yrs seeing as Hezbollah is an Iranian
As Mideast conflict widens, US says attacks on Iran will last weeks and intensify — The Canadian Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack from drones, but its defenses downed the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The refinery has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.
“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
The Gulf state of Qatar said its air force shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, and QatarEnergy said it would stop producing liquefied natural gas indefinitely, taking one of the world’s top suppliers off the market. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response, while several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes and where Iran has threatened attacks.
Hezbollah in Lebanon fires on Israel, prompting massive response.
Hezbollah said it fired missiles on Israel early Monday in response to Khamenei’s killing and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” It was the first time in more than a year the militant group has claimed an attack.Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country's Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon. Associated Press journalists in Beirut were jolted awake by loud explosions that shook buildings and shattered windows, ‘cuz greater Israel.
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards senior official said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and Iran will fire on any ship trying to pass, Iranian media reported.
This is Iran's most explicit warning since telling ships it was closing the export route on Saturday, a move that threatens to choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.
"The strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze," Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.Iran vows to attack any ship trying to pass through Strait of Hormuz — Reuters
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards senior official said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and Iran will fire on any ship trying to pass, Iranian media reported.
I wonder if those are “manned” craft above? The IRGC plays a key role in Iran’s defence, foreign operations and regional influence with its 190,000 or so active personnel and a total of 600,000 if reserves are included. The IRGC manages Iran’s ballistic missile programme, is responsible for security for the country’s nuclear programme and coordinates with its regional
The IRGC, however, is also deeply entrenched in Iran’s political and economic structures. Its economic role expanded during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, as it handled engineering and logistics to sustain Iran’s war effort. War against whom you might ask? Firms affiliated with the IRGC reportedly have contracts in key sectors such as Iran’s natural resources, transport, infrastructure, telecommunications, and mining.
Iranian officials call this the “resistance economy” and say this is part of how the country has circumvented sanctions.
Has Trump misunderstood Iran’s IRGC and the Basij forces? — Al Jazeera
US president called for IRGC members to lay down their arms or face 'certain death'. Here's how he misunderstands IRGC.
! A closure of the Strait of Hormuz would immediately threaten over 40% of China's total seaborne crude oil imports, as roughly 38% to 43.5% of China's oil supply passes through this narrow waterway. As the world's largest oil importer, this disruption would halt a significant portion of Middle Eastern energy supplies, heavily impacting China's energy security.