Israel’s rescue services said at least 15 people were wounded Monday by Iranian missiles in the southern city of Beer Sheba.
One person was moderately wounded and 14 lightly, and searches are ongoing for additional victims. Several missile barrages targeted Israel from Iran on Monday.
Traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has sharply dropped.
Ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic.com said that transit through the chokepoint fell by approximately 70% since Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran. It noticed changes in vessels’ navigation in the past three days, including “U-turns, idling, reduced speeds, and last-minute diversions.”
Etihad Airways says in its latest update that all flights to and from its base in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, will now remain suspended until 2 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Tuesday.
Etihad, like fellow Gulf airlines Emirates and Qatar Airways, mainly serves long-haul travelers, whose plans have been disrupted by the closure of regional airspace.
Iranian cleric Alireza Arafi has delivered some of his first public remarks since he was made a member of Iran’s temporary leadership council.
In remarks aired on state television, Arafi said he hoped that a new supreme leader would be “quickly” appointed. The 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a group of mostly hard-line clerics, will choose a replacement for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes. But no clear successor is in place.
Arafi is serving on a temporary leadership council that includes President Masoud Pezeshkian and Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. Arafi said that state institutions continue to function “under these extremely difficult circumstances.”
Lebanon’s government says it considers Hezbollah’s military activities illegal and says the Iranian-backed group should hand over its weapons.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said only the state can decides whether to go to war. He added on Monday that all of Hezbollah’s military activities are banned and Hezbollah should only work in politics.
The government called on security agencies to prevent the firing of missiles or drones and detain those behind it. Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Iran has targeted a power plant in Qatar, the country’s defense ministry said. There were no casualties.
The ministry reported that Iran launched two drone attacks, one targeting a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed, in southern Qatar, and another targeting an energy facility operated by Qatar Energy in the industrial city of Ras Laffan.
The U.S. military said Monday that Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” thee American F-15E Strike Eagles during a combat mission as Iran attacked the country.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said the combat included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones — the first time Iran’s aging combat fleet has been engaged in the war.
“The U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” it said. “All six aircrew ejected safely, have been safely recovered, and are in stable condition. Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation.”
A bomb-carrying drone boat struck a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, killing one mariner on board, Oman said.
The state-run Oman News Agency reported the attack off the coast of Muscat, the sultanate’s capital. It identified the vessel as the MKD VYOM. It said the dead crew member was from India.
Iran has been threatening vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, and is believed to have launched multiple attacks after Israel and the U.S. started a major airstrike campaign targeting the Islamic Republic.
Displaced families fleeing Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon sit at a school turned into a shelter, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Displaced families from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs sought refuge in schools in the capital, after Israel launched its deadliest barrage of airstrikes in more than a year. It came hours after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border.
At a public school hastily converted into a temporary shelter, families arrived carrying mattresses, plastic bags, and bundles of clothing. People sat on sidewalks beside their belongings, some smoking quietly as they waited for space to open inside.
Hussein Abu Ali, who fled with his wife and children, described the moment the strikes hit. “My son began shaking and crying... Where are you supposed to go? I stepped outside, then back in because I was afraid of shooting in the air. I gathered my children and went down to the street.”
Israeli attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded 149, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry
Iranian state television claimed that Iran had targeted one of the U.S. aircraft that crashed in Kuwait. It did not elaborate.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said earlier Monday that several U.S. warplanes crashed, and all the pilots safely bailed out and were in stable condition.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, said that U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site.
Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which America bombed back in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June.
“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday,” he said. “Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie.”
An Israeli drone flies over Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Israel’s air force carried out new airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs Monday. The blasts were heard in parts of the Lebanese capital.
The strikes hit an area where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group has a giant hall used to hold rallies. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.
Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. About two thirds of the dead were in the country’s south.
At least one Chinese citizen has died in Tehran during U.S.-Israeli strikes, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
China also announced it has evacuated more than 3,000 citizens from Iran. Chinese embassies and consulates in countries neighboring Iran have dispatched teams to border areas to provide assistance to the evacuees, she said.
China has criticized as “unacceptable” the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and calls for regime change.
Saudi Aramco temporarily shut down its Ras Tanura oil refinery near Dammam on Monday after it was targeted by Iranian drones.
Saudi state television reported the decision, citing what it described as an “official source.” It added there were no casualties from the fire and its decision was a precautionary one.
The refinery has a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.
An Iranian university student reached by The Associated Press on Monday described a heavy security presence in the northern city of Babol and nearby towns.
Communications into Iran remain unstable with most internet access blocked. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security fears, said he had briefly regained internet connection and was able to talk with friends in nearby towns where a similar security presence was reported. Babol is 136 miles (220 kilometers) north of the capital, Tehran.
The student said armed riot police were on the streets Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday as crowds gathered to mourn the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
European markets opened lower early Monday and oil prices were up about 9% as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran rattled markets.
The U.S. dollar rose against the Japanese yen and the euro.
In Asian trading, shares slipped in Tokyo and most other markets but they rose in Shanghai, where higher oil prices lifted stocks in oil companies. The war in the Middle East is expected to disrupt oil supplies. The futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 1.3% as of 0900 GMT.
About 30,000 German tourists are currently stuck on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East and cannot get back home because of the conflict.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday that a military evacuation was currently not possible because of closed airspace.
He said the government was looking into other options to help bring its citizens home and that everyone should follow advise by German travel agencies and local authorities. The German Travel Association called on tourists to “remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency” and not “make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country.”
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said that “up to now,” the International Atomic Energy Agency has “no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the Tehran Research Reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities” in Iran have been damaged or hit.
Addressing a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna on Monday, he said the IAEA continues to try and contact the Iranian nuclear regulatory authorities via the IAEA’s own Incident and Emergency Center “with no response so far,” given the limitations in communications caused by the conflict.
Grossi urged military restraint, warning that Iran and many other countries in the region that have been targeted have “operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites,” which increases the threat to nuclear safety.
So far, he said, “no elevation of radiation levels above the usual background levels has been detected in countries bordering Iran.”
The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain said Iran’s drone and missile attacks in the tiny Gulf nation have continued Monday.
In a social media post, the embassy urged Americans in the country to avoid hotels in the capital, Manama, saying they “might be a target for attacks.”
Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. 5th fleet, is one of the Gulf states that Iran attacked following the U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered the Mideast conflict.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said Monday that the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign targeting Iran has killed at least 555 people so far in the Islamic Republic.
The society added that 131 cities have come under attack so far in the war.
Iran’s decision to target the Saudi refinery further expands the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the kingdom’s economy.
Already, Iran has been threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil trade passes.
Several ships have been attacked as well there.
“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose a heavy economic cost by putting tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and U.S. security partners in the crosshairs,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under attack Monday from drones, the kingdom’s Defense Ministry said, with authorities downing the incoming aircraft.
A Saudi military spokesperson made the announcement on the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack.
Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.
Ras Tanura, near Dammam, has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day.
Israel is keeping “all options on the table” for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, according to Israel’s military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.
He said on Monday that Israel has called up more than 100,000 reservists since the war with Iran began on Saturday.
Hezbollah launched missiles and drones towards Israel overnight, and Israel responded by striking dozens of targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
“Hezbollah will pay a very heavy price for this,” Defrin said.
Israel’s military has launched an offensive campaign in Lebanon that could include “many prolonged days of combat ahead,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, said on Monday morning.
Hezbollah launched several rockets and drones towards Israel overnight, and Israel responded by striking dozens of targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon, he said.
Israel also recommended that residents of 53 villages in southern Lebanon evacuate, causing massive traffic jams.
Germany will not actively participate in military action against Iran but will consider defending its soldiers stationed on multinational military bases in Jordan and Iraq if they get attacked, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Monday morning.
“The federal government has no intention of participating” in the conflict, Wadephul told Deutschlandfunk public radio, adding that “we also do not have the necessary military resources.”
However, the foreign minister went on to say that it was possible that “our Bundeswehr soldiers would defend themselves if they were attacked.”
According to the German Armed Forces, military bases where German soldiers are stationed were targeted following the escalation in the region.
On the weekend, attacks were carried out on multinational bases in Irbil in northern Iraq, and Al-Azraq in Jordan.
The soldiers on site were not injured and are safe, the German news agency dpa reported.
Several U.S. warplanes crashed Monday in Kuwait, the country’s Defense Ministry said, with all the pilots safely bailing out.
The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes but it came during an intense period of Iranian fire targeting the country.
The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry said the pilots had been taken to a hospital for checkups and their condition was stable.
The U.S. military’s Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Turkey has temporarily closed its border with Iran to crossings by Iranians visiting for short trips, the Trade Ministry said, following public concerns that the tensions could trigger migration flows.
A ministry statement said that in a mutual agreement reached with Iran, Turkey is allowing its citizens and third‑country nationals to enter from Iran but short trips by Iranians have been temporarily suspended.
Meanwhile, commercial freight crossings between Turkey and Iran are continuing “in a controlled manner,” the ministry said.
Like some other U.S. embassies in the Middle East, the outpost in Kuwait is a large, walled compound consisting of multiple buildings and recreational facilities.
It is located near other embassies and residential areas to the south of central Kuwait City.
The ruling emir’s Bayan Palace is not far away.
In December 1983, a truck packed with explosives heavily damaged parts of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait when it drove through a gate and detonated.
The bombing was part of a series of attacks later blamed on Iranian-backed militant groups.
Fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait after an Iranian attack on the small Mideast nation on Monday.
The United States had earlier issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.
It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.
Correction: A previous version of this post referenced a video obtained by The Associated Press, however, the video footage was not from the right location.
The World Health Organization called for the sparing of civilians and health care facilities in the Middle East amid a regional conflict triggered by Israeli-US strikes on Iran over the weekend.
“The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media.
“All parties must … ensure medical facilities remain protected.”
Displaced people fleeing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sit on a pickup at a highway links to Beirut, in the southern port city of Sidon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Lebanon’s government is holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel triggered Israeli airstrikes in different parts of the country.
The meeting started Monday morning and is being attended by the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal.
The state-run National News Agency reported that the Cabinet will discuss the volatile situation and the measures it plans to take.
A witness said he saw smoke over a Kuwait neighborhood home to the U.S. Embassy as Americans had been urged to stay away.
Ayman Moawad, an Egyptian worker living near the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, told The Associated Press that he saw smoke over the area.
However, he didn’t know if it was specifically the embassy hit in an ongoing Iranian attack targeting the small Mideast nation.
The U.S. earlier issued an urgent warning to Americans there to take cover and remain indoors.
It said: “Do not come to the Embassy,” without elaborating.
