The Israeli military said it began a new wave of strikes on Tehran early on Tuesday. This came shortly after the military issued an evacuation warning for Tehran residents, especially those located near the headquarters of Iran\u2019s state broadcaster, IRIB.<\/p>\n
Fighting continued in Lebanon, with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, approving a military ground incursion into the southern part of the country and the Israeli military issuing new evacuation orders for dozens of locations.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli air force said it was attacking Tehran and Beirut simultaneously, with \u201cextensive strikes\u201d against the Iranian regime and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon that launched drones at northern Israel. Israeli airstrikes have killed 52 people and displaced at least 30,000 in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that at least 787 people had been killed across Iran. However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had reached at least 1,500<\/a>, including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.<\/p>\n Casualties and destruction were reported across at least nine countries, with the United Arab Emirates recording 186 missiles and 812 drones sent toward the country since the start of the conflict and two ports in Oman targeted in drone strikes today.<\/p>\n The International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday confirmed that the entrance buildings of Iran\u2019s Natanz fuel enrichment plant had sustained some damage in the recent strikes.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military said in the early hours of Tuesday that it was working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched from Iran, warning residents in multiple locations to seek shelter. After the latest salvo, Israel\u2019s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services said they were treating seven people with injuries.<\/p>\n The US attacked Iran after learning that Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state Marco Rubio said<\/a>. \u201cWe knew that if we didn\u2019t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,\u201d Rubio told reporters. The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n Rubio also said the \u201chardest hits\u201d were yet to come from the US military. \u201cThe next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n Netanyahu said the war against Iran may take \u201csome time\u201d but would not take years. He told Fox News: \u201cI said it could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it\u2019s not going to take years. It\u2019s not an endless war.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. He initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but added it could go on longer<\/a>, and has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended conflict. The president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran.<\/p>\n The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out.<\/p>\n The state department urged Americans to immediately leave more than a dozen countries in the Middle East<\/a>, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, amid the worsening conflict. Mora Namdar, the state department\u2019s assistant secretary for consular affairs, said US citizens should leave using available commercial transportation \u201cdue to safety risks\u201d. The US has not organised its own evacuation flights.<\/p>\n