US-Israel war on Iran live updates: Netanyahu says war will take ‘some time’; IDF issues evacuation warnings in Lebanon

Israeli PM adds that it will not be an ‘endless war’; Israeli military lists dozens of locations in Lebanon that could be targeted – follow the latestUS strikes on Iran triggered by Israel’s plan to launch attack, Rubio says Anger with Hezbollah boils as war returns to weary Beirut Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have targeted a US air base in Bahrain, the Islamic republic’s elite force said in a statement carried on Tuesday by the official IRNA news agency.“The IRGC announced that... its naval forces carried out a large-scale drone and missile attack at dawn on the US air base in the Sheikh Isa area of Bahrain,” IRNA posted on Telegram, using the acronym for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out. A loud blast was heard and flames seen at the embassy early on Tuesday morning, reports said. Black smoke was seen rising over Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter, which houses foreign missions.The state department has urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to risks related to ongoing escalations that have pushed the region into chaos. The 14 countries included in the warning were Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.There was confusion over the status of navigation in the strait of Hormuz after a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to “burn any ship” seeking to navigate the waterway, a vital route for oil and gas shipments. However, US Central Command said the strait was not closed, according to Fox News.The United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state Marco Rubio said. “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters. The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.Rubio also said the “hardest hits” are yet to come from the US military. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he told reporters.Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. The president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran: “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities ... Second, we’re annihilating their navy ... Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s No 1 sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Finally we are ensuring the Iranian regime can’t continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.” Continue reading...