Iranian drones struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia after previously hitting the mission in Kuwait. Washington responded by shutting both embassies and ordering non-emergency government personnel and their families to leave countries across the Middle East.
A day after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave open-ended answers when asked how long the war would last, a source told Reuters that Israel’s campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was moving faster. The source, familiar with Israel’s war plan, said its aim was to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers, and there was no firm deadline to achieve it.
But the Israeli military was going through its target list faster than planned, with early success killing Iran’s leaders and taking out its defences, the source said. Israel was also accelerating its campaign out of concern Washington might reach a deal with Iran’s surviving leaders and stop too soon, the source added.
Inside Iran, Israel struck the Tehran headquarters of the state broadcaster IRIB. Israel warned residents in the afternoon to leave the Hakimeh district and the area around the capital’s Mehrabad airport. Shortly afterwards there were explosions in both districts. As Iranians have fled cities, the capital has become a ghost town.
“How long will this continue? Where are the shelters? Where is the government?” Bijan, 32, a bank employee, told Reuters by telephone from Tehran. “Every night my wife and I hide in the basement. The whole city is empty. There is smoke and blood everywhere.”
Firuzeh Seraj said she was afraid to take her 10-year-old daughter for dialysis treatment after a hospital in the capital was struck.
“World, do you see? They are killing us. Hear our voice,” she said through tears from Tehran.
Global stock markets slid as the disruption of Middle East energy supplies threatened to reignite post-pandemic inflation. The price of crude oil , was up by 17% in two days, and the European wholesale price for natural gas was up a punishing 40%. The S&P 500 fell 2.2% after Wall Street’s opening. Europe’s benchmark was down 3.3% in afternoon trading, after a 1.7% drop on Monday. Shares in energy import-dependent South Korea plunged more than 7%.
–Reuter–
