{"id":326957,"date":"2026-03-03T16:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326957\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:52:09","slug":"iran-strikes-us-embassy-in-saudi-arabia-as-war-expands-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/326957\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran strikes US embassy in Saudi Arabia as war expands yet again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran expanded its targets on Tuesday, striking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull many staff out of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The US and Israel battered Iran with air strikes in what US President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a war that has severely disrupted the world\u2019s supply of oil and gas, international shipping, and air travel.<\/p>\n

The conflict escalated further on its fourth day, with Israel sending new ground troops into Lebanon and explosions ringing out in Iran\u2019s capital Tehran.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people have been killed, the vast majority in Iran.<\/p>\n

The spiralling nature of the war raised questions about when and how it would end.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said it could last four to five weeks \u2013 but that the US was prepared to go longer.<\/p>\n

He seemed to leave open the possibility for more extensive US military involvement, telling the New York Post on Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of boots on the ground.<\/p>\n

Still, the administration\u2019s objectives remain unclear.<\/p>\n

The initial US-Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mr Trump urged Iranians to overthrow their government.<\/p>\n

Since then, however, senior administration officials have said regime change was not the goal.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s initial announcement of the strikes listed several grievances, from concerns about Iran\u2019s nuclear and missile programmes to its leadership.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises from Israeli air strikes in Lebanon (Bilal Hussein\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

An attack from two drones on the US embassy in Riyadh caused a \u201climited fire\u201d, according to Saudi Arabia\u2019s Defence Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound.<\/p>\n

It followed an attack on the US embassy in Kuwait that announced on Tuesday it had been closed until further notice.<\/p>\n

The US State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

In addition, the US has urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remained stranded.<\/p>\n

Several other countries arranged evacuation flights for their citizens.<\/p>\n

The US-Israeli strikes have killed at least 787 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.<\/p>\n

In Israel, where Iranian missiles struck several locations, 11 people were killed.<\/p>\n

The Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah has also attacked Israel, whose retaliatory strikes killed 52 people in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\"OfficersOfficers from Israel\u2019s Home Front Command inspect a damaged apartment building after an Iranian missile strike in Ramat Gan, Israel (Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

The US military has confirmed six deaths of American service members.<\/p>\n

In addition, three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Across Iran\u2019s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into Tuesday, with aircraft heard overhead.<\/p>\n

Strikes caused two explosions at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, Iranian state TV said, adding that no-one was injured.<\/p>\n

The United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran\u2019s Natanz nuclear enrichment site had sustained \u201csome recent damage\u201d, though there was \u201cno radiological consequence expected\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US hit Natanz during the 12-day war in June, when Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding \u201cnew sites, new places\u201d underground for making atomic bombs.<\/p>\n

He offered no evidence to support his claim.<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis satellite image provided by Vantor shows damage after a drone attack at Ras Tanura oil refinery, in Saudi Arabia, on Monday (Satellite image \u00a92026 Vantor\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to take the action now and we did,\u201d Mr Netanyahu told Fox News Channel\u2019s Hannity.<\/p>\n

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to and says its nuclear programme is peaceful.<\/p>\n

Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two Iranian nuclear sites before the war.<\/p>\n

Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.<\/p>\n

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, Khamenei\u2019s killing and the lack of any apparent exit plan suggested the conflict could be prolonged.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said on Monday that operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared \u201cto go far longer than that\u201d.<\/p>\n

He later added the US had a \u201cvirtually unlimited supply\u201d of munitions.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Monday (Mark Schiefelbein\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWars can be fought \u2018forever,\u2019 and very successfully, using just these supplies,\u201d Mr Trump wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Middle East in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n

Recent targets included two Amazon data centres in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain.<\/p>\n

The centres in the UAE were hit, while a drone struck near the one Bahrain, causing damage, the company said.<\/p>\n

Iran has also struck energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strait of Hormuz is closed,\u201d declared Iranian Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, vowing that any ships that passed through it would be set on fire.<\/p>\n

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari vowed that Iranian attacks on the gas-rich country \u201cwill not go unanswered\u201d.<\/p>\n

The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeSmoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, Lebanon (Hassan Ammar\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Israeli military hit Beirut with more air strikes and said it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions at several strategic points close to the border.<\/p>\n

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon later said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops making forays across the border and then returning to Israel.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear if any soldiers remained inside Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Lebanon\u2019s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its border positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran expanded its targets on Tuesday, striking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-326957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}