US-Israel attack Iran highlights: US embassies in Riyadh, Kuwait 'struck by drones'; Americans asked to leave 14 nations

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he took the decision to launch a war against Iran because it was the "last, best chance" to stop the country's alleged nuclear bomb program.

"This was our last, best chance to strike, what we're doing right now, and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime," Trump said at the White House.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the US attack on Iran is meeting its goals ahead of schedule, but also warned the war could go "far longer" than his initial estimates of about a month.

"We're already substantially ahead of our time projections," Trump said at the White House, adding, "From the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have the capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it."

Donald Trump has said that people said he would get bored with the Iran operation. He added that the operations are likely to last 4 to 5 weeks, but says he's prepared to go far longer than that.'

“I don’t get bored,” he said on the timeline.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he did not believe that an attempt to remove Iran's leadership through aerial bombardment without a land invasion would work, which was one reason the UK did not join U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran.

"This government does not believe in regime change from the skies," Starmer told lawmakers on Monday, emphasising that military action needed a lawful basis and a "viable thought-through plan, with an objective that can be achieved."

"They're the principles that I applied to the decision not to get involved in the offensive strikes of the U.S. and Israel."

Explosions in Beirut have caused huge plumes of smoke to rise into the sky of the Lebanese capital. The strikes took place in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Al Jazeera.

The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, told the country's parliament that while he has allowed British bases to be used in the US response to Iran’s attacks, they will be “limited to the agreed defensive purposes”.

“We are not joining the US-Israeli offensive strikes. The basis for our decision is for the collective self-defence of longstanding friends and allies and protecting British lives,” said Keir Starmer.

He added that while the UK will not be joining the strikes, “we will continue our defensive actions in the region.”

Qatar Defence Ministry said that its forces “successfully shot down” two fighter aircraft incoming from Iran.

Defence systems also intercepted seven ballistic missiles and five drones.

The "big wave" is yet to come in the war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump told CNN on Monday, adding that Washington did not know who the country's new leader would be following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon," Trump said, telling CNN it was unclear who was now leading the country.

"We don't know who the leadership is. We don't know who they'll pick," he said.

The Israeli military said that missiles have recently been launched from Iran towards Israel, and its defence systems are working to eliminate them.

“In recent minutes, the Home Front Command distributed advance instructions directly to mobile phones in the relevant areas,” the army said in a statement.

“The public is asked to be responsible and act according to the instructions.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “standing with the truth” amid the Israel-US war with Iran.

Netanyahu also said he had spoken to PM Modi yesterday, along with other regional leaders. He was reportedly in Beit Shemesh, where an Iranian missile attack resulted in the death of 9 people on Sunday.

“I spoke to my great friend PM Narendra Modi yesterday. I thank him for standing with us, standing with the truth,” Netanyahu told NDTV.

The report comes amid Iran's claims that it had targeted Netanyahu's office in an attack on Monday. It wasn't immediately clear if he was in his office at that time.

Eighteen service members have been seriously wounded during the US military’s operation against Iran, CNN reported, quoting US Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin and United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during a phone call, have reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire between Iran, the US and Israel.

According to the Russian statement, the two leaders discussed what Moscow described as “tragic developments” in the Middle East.

Both sides emphasised the importance of returning to political and diplomatic efforts.

The Russian statement described recent military action against Iran as an “unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign UN member state”.

The UAE president, according to Moscow, said Iran is attacking his country “despite the fact that UAE territory is not being used as a launchpad for attacks against Iran and [the Iranian attacks on the UAE] are therefore unjustified”.

Tasnim news agency reported that five civilians, including a child, have been killed in an Israeli bombing on the village of Sarabeleh in western Iran’s Kermanshah province.

France will increase the size of its nuclear arsenal and strengthen its deterrent, with an increasing risk of conflicts globally crossing the nuclear threshold, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.

"We are currently experiencing a period of geopolitical upheaval fraught with risk," Macron said in a speech delivered from a submarine base in Brittany, adding that a "hardening" of the French deterrence model was needed.

Dubai-based carrier Emirates has said it will begin operating a limited number of flights starting this evening.

“We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority, and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates,” it said in a statement, urging people to “not go to the airport unless you have been notified”.

It added: “All other flights remain suspended until further notice.”

The IDF said it had killed Hussein Makled, described as the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters, in an overnight strike on the Lebanese capital.

In a statement, the Israeli military said Makled had held several positions within Hezbollah’s intelligence apparatus over recent years and was appointed to lead the unit after his predecessor, Hussein Hazima, was killed in October 2024.

According to the Israeli military, Makled was responsible for compiling intelligence assessments on Israeli forces and coordinating with senior Hezbollah commanders to plan attacks against Israel.

The military added that it would continue operations against Hezbollah.

The US Embassy in Lebanon renewed its call for citizens to leave Lebanon immediately as the Middle East war expanded to Lebanon.

"We urge US citizens not to travel to Lebanon. If you are in the country, depart Lebanon NOW," the US embassy said on Monday, as Israeli strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs, and dozens of villages mainly in south Lebanon.

"The US Embassy strongly encourages US citizens in Southern Lebanon, near the borders with Syria, in refugee settlements, and in the Dahiyeh neighbourhood of Beirut to depart those areas immediately," the embassy said.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Monday that Iran continues to attack its autonomous Kurdistan region, while the other side of the conflict -- whom he did not identify -- targets the country's south.

Hussein said in a call with Hamish Falconer, UK Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, that "Iraq is now directly affected by the war" in the region.

"Iran continues to bomb areas in the Kurdistan Region, especially Erbil, while the opposing side targets sites in southern and western Iraq," without directly naming Israel and the US, which are blamed for attacks on pro-Iran groups.

The strikes expose Iraq "to escalating security challenges," Hussein said.

US Iran War LIVE: Qatar on Monday shut down production at world's largest export facility for liquefied natural gas after it was targeted by an Iranian drone attack. This led to European gas prices surging more than 50% and rattling global energy markets.

QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan plant supplies about a fifth of global LNG supply.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart on a call Monday that Beijing supports Tehran defending itself against US-Israeli strikes, as war spread across the Middle East.

Wang told Abbas Araghchi that Beijing "cherishes the traditional friendship between China and Iran, supports Iran in defending its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and supports Iran in protecting its legitimate rights and interests", state broadcaster CCTV reported.

China had "urged the US and Israel to immediately cease military operations, avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from spreading to the entire Middle East region", Wang said, according to CCTV.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday there are currently no American troops on the ground in Iran, but left the option open, saying "we'll go as far as we need."

When asked if the United States had boots on the ground, Hegseth told a news conference: "No, but we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do," adding: "We'll go as far as we need to go."

It will take time to achieve U.S. military objectives in Iran, and additional U.S. casualties are expected, US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday.

The U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran expanded on Monday with no end in sight. The U.S. military said Kuwait's air defences had mistakenly shot down three American F-15E fighter jets during an Iranian attack.

"This is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work," Caine told reporters.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday declined to give a timeline for the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying it was up to President Donald Trump to decide the length of the military campaign against Tehran.

Ayatollah Khamenei's wife, who sustained injuries in US-Israel strikes, has died, said Iranian media.