Summary: The article details a rapidly escalating military conflict in the Middle East, initiated by a major U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. In retaliation, Iran has conducted strikes across the region, targeting American assets and disrupting global energy shipping, while Israel has continued its own military actions. The conflict has resulted in significant casualties, including the reported death of Iran's supreme leader, and statements from both U.S. and Iranian officials suggest a prolonged war is anticipated.
Main Topics Covered:
1. The escalating regional war triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
2. Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. and allied targets.
3. The human toll and specific military damage in Iran, Israel, and to U.S. forces.
4. The severe disruption to global energy markets and shipping.
5. The political fallout, including leadership succession in Iran and the closure of U.S. diplomatic posts.
Supported by
What to Know About the Widening Fallout From the Bombing of Iran
Fighting is spreading through the Middle East as Iran retaliates against a huge American-Israeli military campaign.
Strikes continued to rock the Middle East on Wednesday, in a spiraling conflict that started with the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran on Saturday. Hundreds of people have been killed, military bases and embassies have been damaged, and travel, energy and shipping have been severely disrupted.
Israel shot down a manned Iranian warplane over Tehran, the Israeli military said on Wednesday, a first in the recent fighting. Israel also kept up its strikes in Lebanon, two days after Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, attacked Israel, breaking a fragile truce that had held for a year.
Iran has expanded retaliatory strikes across the Persian Gulf, which it said were against American targets. The State Department closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after drone attacks and urged Americans to depart immediately from 14 countries in the Middle East.
Oil and natural gas prices have surged as Iran has targeted energy facilities in the Gulf and threatened ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, normally a transit point for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Traffic there has slowed to a trickle.
No immediate end to the fighting is in sight. President Trump has offered an open-ended time frame for the U.S. military campaign. Ali Larijani, a top Iranian official, has said that Iran has “prepared itself for a long war” and would not negotiate with the United States.
Conflict has spread throughout the region
Where Is the Fighting?
Iran
Thousands of airstrikes conducted by the United States and Israel in Iran since Saturday have killed several military leaders and senior officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader. His body will be on display in Tehran starting Wednesday night. Iranian media said the farewell viewing, part of the funeral process, could last for three days.
An announcement about his successor could come as soon as Wednesday. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, his son, is considered a front-runner, three Iranian officials familiar with the deliberations said.
The strikes have killed hundreds of other people, including many civilians. The Iranian Red Crescent said in one recent update that the death toll had risen to 787 across Iran.
At least 175 people, most of them likely children, were killed in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on Saturday, health officials and Iranian state media said. It was not immediately clear why the school had been hit or by whom.
Israeli and American strikes have damaged government buildings and military infrastructure, including Iranian missile launchers, air defense systems and headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful military force.
Targets include Iran’s police stations, detention centers and intelligence offices, in an apparent effort to weaken the country’s internal security agencies.
U.S. bases and embassies
Iranian attacks have killed six U.S. service members, including at least four who died after an Iranian strike on a base in Kuwait.
The United States closed its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after an attack by two drones started a fire and inflicted minor damage.
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait was also struck by a drone attack, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Three American jets were “mistakenly” shot down by Kuwait during “an apparent friendly fire incident,” the U.S. military said on Monday, adding that all six crew members had ejected safely.
Israel
At least 10 people have been killed in Israel. Nine were killed on Sunday in an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh, about 18 miles west of Jerusalem. A woman also died after a strike in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Missile barrages and air-raid sirens have sent Israelis running repeatedly to bomb shelters.
Lebanon
Dozens of people have been killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, as Israel has struck areas across the country. Many residents of southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, have fled their homes.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had launched another wave of strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut, the capital. Overnight, Hezbollah said it had conducted another rocket attack, which set off air-raid sirens in northern Israel but did not cause casualties.
Israel had said on Tuesday that it was carrying out strikes in Lebanon and that its forces had seized new areas in the south. On Monday, Israel bombed areas around Beirut, the capital, and in the south, in response to rocket fire from Hezbollah.
Saudi Arabia
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, sustained minor damage after an attack by what appeared to be two drones, the Saudi Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
A few hours later, the defense ministry said that eight drones had been intercepted and destroyed near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj, which is southeast of the capital. The Canadian Embassy in Riyadh also announced that it would close for the day and canceled all in-person appointments through Friday.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia said that a fire had broken out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery after fragments fell from two intercepted Iranian drones. Some units of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure.
Other Gulf States
Countries in the Persian Gulf that are allied with the United States or that host U.S. military bases have been targeted by hundreds of Iranian drone and missile strikes. Iran has hit military facilities and also civilian hotels and airports.
Most of the Iranian attacks have been intercepted, the Gulf countries said. At least six people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain. Some countries have been forced to close their airspace.
United Arab Emirates: The country said on Tuesday that its air defenses were “dealing with a barrage of ballistic missiles” from Iran.
Three people, one each from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, were killed in previous strikes, a sign that foreign workers, who make up a large proportion of the population, could bear the brunt of the fighting.
In Dubai, the Middle East’s business capital, five-star hotels caught fire, explosions shattered the windows of residential towers and the bustling international airport was damaged, injuring four people and shaking the city’s image as a safe haven.
Bahrain: One person was killed and two were seriously injured after debris falling from an intercepted missile started a fire on a ship, the interior ministry said early Monday. A luxury hotel and several residential buildings were hit in Manama, the capital. An Iranian drone hit a building, starting a fire, a Times analysis showed.
Kuwait: At least one person was killed and more than 30 were injured, Kuwaiti authorities said.
Oman: Oman, which had sought to mediate between Washington and Tehran in an effort to avert war, has not been spared. A drone attack damaged a fuel tanker in a commercial port, state news said on Tuesday. In another attack on an oil tanker in Omani waters on Monday, Oman said, an Indian crew member was killed.
Qatar: The country, which hosts a major American air base, said on Monday that its air force had shot down two Su-24 bombers coming from Iran. It was the first report that in addition to missiles and drones, Iran has also sent warplanes toward its Gulf neighbors.
Qatar’s state-owned energy company said that it would stop producing liquefied natural gas after attacks on two of its sites, which sent natural gas prices higher.
Helene Cooper contributed reporting.
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
Related Content
Advertisement
Meridiano
