Israel-US war on Iran live: reports of fire at US embassy in Riyadh; state department urges all Americans to leave Middle East | US-Israel war on Iran

The Saudi defence ministry is reportedly saying the US embassy in Riyadh has been hit by two drones, resulting in “limited” fire and minor damage.

We’ll bring you more on this soon.

A fire broke out at the US embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh after a blast, Reuters is reporting, citing two sources.

Loud explosions were heard and clouds of smoke seen in the city’s diplomatic quarter, home to foreign embassies in the capital and residences of foreign diplomats, four witnesses told Agence France-Presse early Tuesday morning.

“I heard two explosions followed by smoke rising over the quarter,” a resident said.

The blasts were heard as Iran pressed its campaign targeting Gulf states including Saudi Arabia with waves of missile and drone attacks in response to US and Israeli airstrikes.

There’s uncertainty over the status of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world’s oil supply: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared it was closed and threatened to fire on any ship trying to pass, but US Central Command later said the strait had not been shut.

Iran’s threat to fire was its most explicit warning since telling ships it was closing the export route on Saturday, a move that threatens to choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.

“The strait [of Hormuz] is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze,” Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards’ commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.

But US Central Command (Centcom) later said the strait was is not closed despite statements by Iranian officials, Fox News reported on Monday. Centcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas, with about 20% of global seaborne oil passing through.

That said, some analysts believe that cutting off access would not affect the major Asia-Europe shipping route, with the Gulf ending in a cul-de-sac by the shores of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran.

But the strait is essential to all regional trade as it allows access to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, the world’s 10th-largest container port and a redistribution hub for more than a dozen countries in the region.

With news agencies

Lebanon’s government has taken the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah’s military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision.

The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, was quoted by AFP as saying after an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday:

The Lebanese state declares its absolute and unequivocal rejection of any military or security actions launched from Lebanese territory outside the framework of its legitimate institutions.

This necessitates the immediate prohibition of all of Hezbollah’s security and military activities, considering them to be outside the law, and obliging it to hand over its weapons.

Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the government’s move came hours after the Iran-backed militant group said it had attacked Israel early on Monday to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

Israel later began bombarding Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, killing at least 52 people and wounded 154, according to the Lebanese government.

In response to the government’s ban, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, condemned Beirut’s “rash decisions”, saying that “the Lebanese were expecting a decision rejecting the [Israeli] aggression”.

• The Israeli military says it has begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran. This came shortly after the military issued an evacuation warning for Tehran residents, especially those located near the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.

• Israel’s military said just after midnight (local time) on Tuesday that it was working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched from Iran, warning residents in multiple locations to seek shelter.

• The US attacked Iran “pre-emptively” on Saturday to protect US forces from retaliation after learning that Israel was going to strike, Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday.

• The US state department has urged Americans to immediately depart more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries amid US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that “49 of the most senior Iranian regime leaders” have been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, declaring that “killing terrorists is good for America”. That number includes supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

• The number of US service members killed in Iran has risen to six, the US military said on Monday.

• The US military said that it has struck over 1,250 targets in Iran since operations started on Saturday.

• Israel and the US will not stop their military campaign against Iran until its objectives are achieve, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said earlier.

• Earlier, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that his government does not “believe in regime change from the skies” as he set out to parliament why Britain will not join its closest military partner in offensive action against Iran – suggesting that to do so would be unlawful.

Israel’s military said just after midnight (local time) on Tuesday that it was working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched from Iran, warning residents in multiple locations to seek shelter.

“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” it said.

The US Senate’s Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer said a briefing from Trump administration officials about the US war with Iran “raised many more questions than it answered”.

“Look, a whole lot of questions were asked. I found their answers completely and totally insufficient,” Schumer told reporters as he exited the meeting. He departed without taking questions.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio as well as CIA director John Ratcliffe are among those briefing Congress leaders in a classified facility in the Capitol.

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