Drone strikes US Consulate in Dubai amid Iran attacks on American missions
A drone strike near the US Consulate in Dubai ignited a fire Tuesday night amid Iran’s ongoing attacks on US diplomatic missions in the Middle East.
Residents told AFP they heard an explosion, and one reported seeing the resulting fire. Police blocked nearby roads and kept onlookers away. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the drone strike in Dubai, adding that all personnel were safe.
"Dubai authorities have confirmed that a fire resulting from a drone-related incident near the US Consulate has been successfully contained. Emergency teams responded immediately. No injuries have been reported," Dubai Media Office posted on X.
No evacuation plan for US embassies in Middle East: Trump
President Donald Trump said that the war with Iran unfolded very quickly when asked why Washington did not have an evacuation plan for US embassies and to get American citizens out of harm's way.
Britain to send warship, helicopters to Cyprus after drone strike on UK base: PM Keir Starmer
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that Britain is sending a warship and helicopters to Cyprus after a drone hit a UK base there.
Starmer said he had told the island's president that the UK is deploying helicopters with counter-drone capabilities and the air-defense destroyer HMS Dragon to the region.
It comes after an Iran-made drone hit RAF Akrotiri base over the weekend, causing minor damage and no injuries.
'We are taking them out': US Centcom posts video of attacks on Iran's missile launchers
Israel orders Iranian civilians to leave Tehran industrial area
Israeli military issues evacuation warning for another area in Tehran, signaling imminent strike
Hezbollah says it downed Israeli drone over southern Lebanese town
Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Tuesday that it had downed an Israeli drone over the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh, without specifying whether the target was a surveillance or attack drone. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
In its 2024 war with Israel, Hezbollah downed several Israeli surveillance drones over Lebanon.
Iran doubtful about usefulness of negotiations with the US, says ambassador to UN
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva cast doubt on the prospect of negotiations with the United States on Tuesday, three days after the U.S. and Israel launched join strikes on the country.
"For the time being we are very doubtful about the usefulness of negotiation," Ali Bahreini, ambassador of the Iranian mission to the U.N. in Geneva, told reporters.
Building of Iran's Assembly of Experts flattened by air attack
The Assembly of Experts is a council of about 90 senior clerics that is tasked with electing Iran's new Supreme Leader.
The building is located in the city of Qom, south of Tehran.
Israeli attacks kill 40, wound 246 in Lebanon over two days
At least 40 people have been killed and 246 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon on Monday and Tuesday, a spokesperson for Lebanon's health ministry said.
The spokesperson said a death toll of 52 given by the health ministry on Monday had been a technical error.
Tehran's historic Golestan Palace damaged
Iran state media said the Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the historic centre of Tehran, was damaged by strikes.
The palace complex consists of several buildings, most dating from the 19th century, when it was selected as the Persian royal residence and seat of power by the Qajar ruling family.
The building shows the introduction of European motifs and styles into Persian arts, according to the UNESCO website.
The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, held a coronation ceremony there in 1969, although his family did not reside there.
Israeli military says Iranian missiles hit central Israel
Israel's military on Tuesday reported strikes in the Tel Aviv area of Israel from Iranian missiles.
"Search and rescue forces, together with numerous emergency teams, are currently operating at the impact sites in central Israel," the military said. "The circumstances of the impact are under review."
Israel's ambulance service said it was treating three people at the sites who were lightly injured.
Israeli police said there were several impact areas involving munition fragments within the Tel Aviv district.
Trump says "too late" for talks with Iran
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Tehran wanted to talk but it was too late, as the United States continued its military operation against Iran.
"Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said “Too Late!" Trump said in a Truth Social post commenting on an opinion piece.
Trump-Xi meeting will be casualty of Iran strikes
Xi Jinping is in a tricky position.
The optics of China's president rolling out the red carpet for a U.S. counterpart who just ordered strikes that killed Iran's leader weeks after authorising the capture of Venezuela's are not particularly appealing.
With Beijing's strategic partners under siege, a scheduled meeting with Trump in a month will probably be a casualty of the military attacks.
A fragile $560 billion trade détente between the two economic powers hangs in the balance.
Trump's "Liberation Day" and Xi's fierce retaliation rattled investors worldwide in April. Calm was restored after the two sides de-escalated, and agreed in October to put reciprocal tariffs and export controls on hold for a year, boosting anticipation for a negotiated truce and Chinese stocks in the process.
The latest military aggression alters the diplomatic dynamics and punctures the calm.
China urges resumption of talks on Iran nuclear issue
China respects Iran's "legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy," a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, while urging a stop to U.S. military actions in favour of returning to talks and negotiations.
U.S. strikes on Iran "during ongoing negotiations ... violate international law and basic principles of international relations," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press briefing.
"The Iran nuclear issue should eventually return to the track of political and diplomatic settlement," Mao said.
Mao also said China will take necessary measures to ensure its own energy security, when asked about the potential impact of U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran on China's oil supply.
"Energy security is very important to the world economy, and all parties should ensure stable and smooth energy supply," she said.
Russia says Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant under threat
The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran is under threat as a result of the escalating conflict, the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Tuesday, according to the RIA state news agency.
"There is certainly a threat to the plant," CEO Alexei Likhachev was cited as saying.
"Explosions can be heard just kilometres away", he added, saying the plant itself was not being targeted.
Rosatom said on Saturday it had evacuated nearly 100 people from Iran, but its personnel have remained at the plant, which was built by Moscow in the Iranian port city of Bushehr.
Likhachev said the next stage of evacuations involving 150 to 200 people from the plant would happen when the situation permits, according to comments cited by the Interfax news agency.
President Vladimir Putin said last year that hundreds of Russians were working at the facility.
Qatar: 8,000 stranded in transit, no communication with Iran
Qatar was not notified by Iran of incoming missile attacks, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said.
More than 8,000 people stranded in transit are being hosted in hotels. There are also visitors stranded on cruise ships
Putin tell Iran of Arab concerns over attacks on oil infrastructure
Russian President Vladimir Putin will convey to Iran concerns among Arab leaders about Tehran's strikes on oil infrastructure in the region, the Kremlin said.
Putin held a flurry of phone calls on Monday with four Arab Gulf state leaders, offering to use Moscow's ties to Tehran - with which it has a strategic partnership - to try and defuse tensions in the region.
"Putin will certainly make every effort to contribute to at least a slight easing of tensions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
Saudi Aramco looks at alternative oil export routes
Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco will review alternative routes to export its crude oil to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, an industry source said, including by using the east-west pipeline to ship crude via the western Red Sea coast.
The company on Monday shut its Ras Tanura refinery after it was hit by a drone, an industry source said.
The Ras Tanura complex, on the kingdom's Gulf coast, houses one of the Middle East's largest refineries with a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) and serves as a critical export terminal for Saudi crude.
UK plans to send warship to defend Cyprus military base
Britain is planning to send a warship to defend its Royal Air Force Akrotiri base in Cyprus from Iranian attacks, the Times newspaper said on Tuesday.
An Iranian-made drone strike hit a runway at the Akrotiri base in the early hours of Monday, and Britain has said UK assets were targeted by Iran.
The Times report, citing three sources, said defence minister John Healey had a meeting on Tuesday with senior military figures, in which they discussed sending HMS Duncan to the region.
The Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Cyprus News Agency (CNA) said France plans to send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus.
UN urges investigation into 'horrific' attack on Iran school
The UN human rights office, without naming them, urged the forces behind an attack on a girls' school in Iran to investigate and share insights into the "horrific" incident.
"The High Commissioner (Volker Turk) calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it," UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US forces "would not deliberately target a school", after Iranian state media reported over 160 were killed on the first day of the US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday.
