Iran US war highlights: Loud explosion over Jerusalem, Israeli building hit by Iran missiles

Iran US war: Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes that struck a building in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Iran US war highlights: The updates to this live blog have ended. Our latest coverage has moved here. A powerful explosion was heard in Tehran, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to continue strikes on Iran and Lebanon. Netanyahu said he had spoken to US President Donald Trump, saying the latter believes that their war achievements can be leveraged into a deal with Iran.

This comes hours after Trump said Washington and Tehran had held “very good and productive” talks over the past two days and announced a five-day pause on planned strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure. However, Iran swiftly denied any such engagement, with state-linked media claiming that no direct or indirect talks are underway.

Meanwhile, an airstrike hit Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli warning, AFP reported. This came even as Israeli forces said they were targeting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon's capital city, and said they had captured two members of the group. A strike which allegedly hit an ambulance in south Lebanon killed a media, Al Jazeera cited the National News Agency as reporting.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has warned that the situation in West Asia is “very severe” and worse than the two energy crises of the 1970s combined.

In an address to the National Press Club of Australia, Birol said that the biggest solution to the ongoing crisis is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked following the US-Israeli attack on the country.

Donald Trump warned the US will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, prompting Tehran to say it would respond to any such strike with attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets.

Iranian missiles, meanwhile, struck two communities in southern Israel late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in dual attacks not far from Israel’s main nuclear research centre.

The developments signalled the war was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week. Trump — who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the Strait as oil prices soar — issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

Gulf air defences intercept missiles and drones, sirens in Bahrain

Kuwait said early Monday that its air defences are intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks, while the UAE said its air defences are dealing with missile and drone strikes coming from Iran.

Air raid sirens have sounded in Bahrain.

Saudi Crown Prince receives a call from France's Macron

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron, during which Macron expressed his country’s solidarity with Saudi Arabia, condemning what he described as repeated Iranian attacks targeting the kingdom, according to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry posted early Monday.

Macron reaffirmed Paris’s support for measures taken by Riyadh to “safeguard its sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

Crude oil price volatile as the Iran war continues

The price of crude oil remained volatile on Sunday as the Iran war continued to hinder shipping and production in the Middle East.

West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, spiked briefly when trading resumed Sunday evening on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange but then dropped to $97.86, just under its Friday close of $98.32.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at just over $111 on Sunday. It was $112.19 on Friday and reached $119.50 earlier last week.

The price for both WTI and Brent has soared since the start of the war, when Brent was roughly $70 per barrel.