US orders ‘non-emergency\u2019 staff to leave Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq<\/p>\n
The US state department said on Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan, as well as announcing it had ordered staff in Iraq to leave a day earlier, as Iran retaliates to US-Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n
The department said in a post on X that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan \u201cto reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel\u201d.<\/p>\n
In an updated Iraq travel advisory, the department said it had on Monday \u201cordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns\u201d, Agence France-Presse reports.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.00 EST<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n The use of AI tools to enable attacks on Iran heralds a new era of bombing quicker than \u201cthe speed of thought\u201d, experts have said, amid fears human \u00addecision-makers could be sidelined.<\/p>\n Robert Booth and Dan Milmo report<\/a> that Anthropic\u2019s AI model was reportedly used by the US military in the barrage of strikes as the technology \u201cshortens the kill chain\u201d \u2013 meaning the process of target identification through to legal approval and strike launch.<\/p>\n The US and Israel<\/a>, which previously used AI to identify targets in Gaza<\/a>, launched almost 900 strikes on Iranian targets in the first 12 hours alone, during which Israeli missiles killed Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n Academics studying the field say AI is collapsing the planning time required for complex strikes \u2013 a phenomenon known as \u201cdecision compression\u201d, which some fear could result in human military and legal experts merely rubber-stamping automated strike plans.<\/p>\n See the full story here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n US secretary of state Marco Rubio<\/a> has claimed the US attacked Iran after learning that Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew that if we didn\u2019t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,\u201d he told reporters<\/p>\n The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, as our latest \u201cwhat we know\u201d explainer<\/a> on the war says.<\/p>\n Rubio also said the \u201chardest hits\u201d on Iran from the US military<\/a> were yet to come.<\/p>\n Trump signalled the US strikes on Iran<\/a> could go much longer than the four to five weeks he originally predicted, and has sought to justify a broad, open-ended conflict.<\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said the war against Iran may take \u201csome time\u201d but it would not take years, telling Fox News: \u201cIt\u2019s not an endless war.\u201d<\/p>\n For more on those points and others as the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> dramatically expands across the Middle East, see here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.28 EST<\/p>\n Further to our earlier post<\/a>, the Israeli air force is saying on X<\/a>:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe Air Force is now attacking Tehran and Beirut simultaneously<\/p>\n The Air Force has now begun a wave of extensive strikes against the Iranian terror regime and the Hezbollah terror organization.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>US orders ‘non-emergency\u2019 staff to leave Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq<\/p>\n The US state department said on Tuesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Bahrain and Jordan, as well as announcing it had ordered staff in Iraq to leave a day earlier, as Iran retaliates to US-Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n The department said in a post on X that it had updated travel advisories for Bahrain and Jordan \u201cto reflect the ordered departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members of government personnel\u201d.<\/p>\n In an updated Iraq travel advisory, the department said it had on Monday \u201cordered non-emergency US government employees to leave Iraq due to security concerns\u201d, Agence France-Presse reports.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.00 EST<\/p>\n The US embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh has reportedly confirmed it was struck by drones and said it was closing temporarily.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia\u2019s defence ministry earlier confirmed on social media<\/a> that the embassy was hit by two drones, according to initial estimates, and that it caused a limited fire and minor material damage to the building.<\/p>\n A loud blast was heard and flames seen at the embassy early on Tuesday, reports said. There were no reported injuries.<\/p>\n Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh\u2019s diplomatic quarter, which houses foreign missions.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.48 EST<\/p>\n The Israeli military has just been quoting as saying it it currently attacking Tehran and Beirut simultaneously.<\/p>\n More on this shortly.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Further to the last post, travellers stranded by the widening war in the Middle East began departing the United Arab Emirates<\/a> aboard a small number of evacuation flights on Monday, while governments around the world work to extract their citizens from the region.<\/p>\n Airlines Etihad Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and budget carrier FlyDubai said they would operate limited flights amid the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since Saturday at least 11,000 flights into, out of and within the Middle East have been cancelled, affecting more than 1 million passengers, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.<\/p>\n The travel chaos looks set to continue, with Donald Trump saying<\/a> on Monday that the conflict had been projected to last four to five weeks but that it could go on longer.<\/p>\n Passengers of the first charter flight carrying 127 Italians stranded in Oman or transiting from the UAE to Oman arrive at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy. Photograph: Redazione Telenews\/TELENEWS\/EPA<\/p>\n Late on Monday the US state department called on Americans to immediately depart more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE amid the spiralling conflict.<\/p>\n You can read our full story here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.38 EST<\/p>\n Indian airlines said on Tuesday they were resuming limited commercial services to the Middle East in a bid to collect thousands of passengers stranded by war.<\/p>\n IndiGo said it would operate four return flights to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to \u201cprogressively normalise\u201d operations between the countries. Air India Express said it would resume flights to and from the Omani capital, Muscat, from Tuesday.<\/p>\n But services to and from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates remain suspended, the airlines said in a statement, cited by Agence France-Presse.<\/p>\n Budget carrier Akasa Air said it would operate select flights to Jeddah.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards have targeted a US air base in Bahrain, the Islamic republic\u2019s elite force said in a statement carried on Tuesday by the official Irna news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe IRGC announced that … its naval forces carried out a large-scale drone and missile attack at dawn on the US air base in the Sheikh Isa area of Bahrain,\u201d Irna posted on Telegram, using the acronym for Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n Agence France-Press reports the force as saying in its statement that 20 drones and three missiles were launched, \u201cdestroying the base\u2019s main command headquarters\u201d, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.09 EST<\/p>\n Opening summary<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> and the widening Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the US and Israel\u2019s war against Iran may take \u201csome time\u201d but it will not take years.<\/p>\n The US and Israeli air war against Iran<\/a> began with attacks across the country on Saturday, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and prompting Iranian retaliation against Arab nations hosting US bases across the Middle East.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but added it could go on longer, and has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war on Iran.<\/p>\n Netanyahu rejected the idea of the conflict lasting years, like previous wars in the region. \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 Netanyahu said on Fox News\u2019 Hannity program.<\/p>\n On Tuesday morning, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon, including a warning for residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of imminent military action.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it had launched drones at northern Israel.<\/p>\n Here are the other big developments:<\/p>\n The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out. A loud blast was heard and flames seen at the embassy early on Tuesday morning, reports said. Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh\u2019s diplomatic quarter, which houses foreign missions.<\/p>\n The state department has urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries<\/a> due to risks related to ongoing escalations that have pushed the region into chaos. The 14 countries included in the warning were Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.<\/p>\n There was confusion over the status of navigation in the strait of Hormuz after a general in Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards threatened to \u201cburn any ship\u201d seeking to navigate the waterway, a vital route for oil and gas shipments. However, US Central Command said the strait was not closed, according to Fox News.<\/p>\n The United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike<\/a>, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state Marco Rubio said. \u201cWe knew that if we didn\u2019t preemptively 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 defence secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n Rubio also said the \u201chardest hits\u201d are 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 Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. The president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran: \u201cFirst, we\u2019re destroying Iran\u2019s missile capabilities … Second, we\u2019re annihilating their navy … Third, we\u2019re ensuring that the world\u2019s No 1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Finally we are ensuring the Iranian regime can\u2019t continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.29 EST<\/p>\n US claims to have destroyed Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ command facilities<\/p>\n US Central Command has just claimed on social media that US forces have destroyed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards\u2019 command facilities as well as Iranian missile and drone launch sites and more.<\/p>\n