Dubai: Iran carried out missile and drone attacks on Tuesday against Israel and Gulf Arab countries, continuing a war that started on February 28 following US-Israel tensions with Tehran over a seized US tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
What began as a tit-for-tat retaliation has snowballed into regional conflict, killing over 1,600 and strangling 20 per cent of global oil flows through the strait — a chokepoint where attacks in which seven sailors were killed, according to the International Maritime Organisation.
The Tuesday morning barrage started with sirens blaring across Dubai and Bahrain. Reports said Saudi Arabia destroyed two drones over its eastern oil fields, while Kuwait’s National Guard downed six more.
Hours later, Jerusalem echoed with alarms and Tel Aviv with blasts, as Israel’s Iron Dome thwarted an Iranian missile salvo detected mid-launch.
Iran’s operations have included strikes on energy facilities, US bases and Israel, alongside restricting the Hormuz strait. This has reduced oil supplies, increased US fuel prices and led to evacuations from Gulf business centres after hits on military sites, government buildings, oil infrastructure, hotels and a school.
US President Donald Trump described the situation as a “short-term excursion,” despite prior estimates of a month or more. In a social media post, he stated: “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
Iranian state media quoted Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini as saying: “Iran will determine when the war ends.”
Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told CNN on Monday that Iran is “prepared for a long war” and sees “no room for diplomacy anymore” unless economic measures prompt intervention against “aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran.”
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on Hezbollah’s financial network al-Qard al-Hasan in Lebanon, while issuing evacuation orders for people in southern areas ahead of further actions. In Iraq, pro-Iran militias targeted US bases.
Officials, speaking anonymously, reported an airstrike in Kirkuk killed five members of the
Popular Mobilisation Forces’ 40th Brigade.
Casualties so far totalled at least 1,230 in Iran, 397 in Lebanon, 11 in Israel and seven US personnel, according to reports.
